Gemini
by DeuxPutes
Summary: We all know about the time of the Marauders and the Golden Trio... but what happened between those two time periods? Full summary inside MF, FF
1. Intro

Disclaimer: Hogwarts and most of the characters/settings/ideas belong to J.K. Rowling. The plot and main characters of this story are ours, though.

This takes place shortly after the Marauders graduate, so the only characters that are the same are the teachers. There will be some references to the Marauders, though.

The rating of M if for later chapters, and if you have a problem with yuri, then this might not be the best story for you.

Also, the updating will take place once every week or once every other week. Both of us being in high school with an insane amount of homework, spending a lot of time working for tech crew, and practicing music stuff, we write when we can; which is usually rather inconsistent.

And here's a VERY important thing to know BEFORE reading- the chapters alternate between characters. Chapter 1 is from Ren's POV, chapter 2 from Layla's, etc. Don't think that it means it's the same thing just in different words, because that's not true. It gives more depth to each character, showing their thoughts and feelings about the same things, and most of the time (with the exception of chapters 1 and 2) the twins are doing their own thing, so the chapters are very different.


	2. 1R

Ren Sorge sat alone waiting anxiously in the midst of chaos and utter madness. Platform Nine and Three-Quarters was packed with students and their families. But throughout the goodbyes, Ren had sat quietly on the plush red vinyl seats. She made no sound aside from the ruffling of her black pants as she squirmed. Ren scanned the platform looking for anything at all interesting, but found nothing.

Ren had hair that was black, and soft, coming down just below the shoulders. Her paper white face was thin, and outlined with her light fringe and hair hanging over her ears. She originally had red eyes, and though she liked them most of the time, she found it annoying that people would marvel over the coloration, so she found it useful to charm the color of her eyes, making them blue. Standing at five foot three, she wasn't extremely tall, but about average. That's all she seemed on the surface, average.

"I don't know about you but I'm about to scream from boredom." Layla said slamming the compartment door shut. Layla was Ren's twin sister, and the only person she knew at Hogwarts. The two were spitting images of each other, if not for the fact that Layla has longer hair, there wouldn't be any differences.

"Nothing interesting in the other compartments?" Ren asked, only half caring.

"Not a thing."

"Damn. I suppose things will be more exciting once we arrive."

"I hope so, or else I'm leaving school, I never wanted to come here in the first place."

"I don't know... I kind of like the change of scenery"

"France had nice scenery too."

"You just liked it because you had a boyfriend there."

"Liar!"

"Don't even deny it. You know it's true, I know it's true, just shut up."

The two fell silent for a moment and they turned their attention to the activities beyond the window. The train whistle blew, and an immense amount of kids ran for the train. Layla checked her watch.

"They're late. By five minutes."

"As long as we get there I don't give a fuck."

"Well someone's grumpy." Layla sneered, plopping down on the seat across from Ren. She rolled her eyes and sighed. Both of them were extremely tired due to lack of sleep. The past few days had been frantic for the both of them, packing, hopping on train after train, then across the channel, and to London. Needless to say, they were exhausted. So the two were at each other's necks. A sharp jolt, and another whistle, and the Hogwarts Express was off at a slow, but rapidly increasing speed. "I wonder what house we'll be in."

"What?" Ren grunted, half asleep.

"The houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin."

"Oh... dunno... I guess it doesn't matter. Does it?"

"I guess not." Layla said shrugging.

The compartment door flew open, and a girl about their age stood in the doorway. She was about average height, her hair was cropped, pouffy, the color of corn silk. Her eyes were an ocean blue, deep and foggy. Her face was round, and soft, with a kind complexion. She stood there awkwardly for a moment before doing anything.

"Hi." She said, then furrowed her brow "Are you two the exchange students? You don't look familiar at all."

"Yes, in fact we are. I'm Layla, and this is Ren." Layla said gesturing to Ren. "Who might you be?"

"Skye. Skye Emrys." She replied "Nice to meet you. Mind if I have a seat?" Her eyes wandered over to the plentiful seating in the compartment.

"Have at it." Ren said, picking herself up and moving to sit next to her sister, allowing Skye her own seat.

By now, the scenery of London was long gone, and blurs of rolling hills and trees were zooming past the window. Ren sighed, thinking of France and even though she denied it, she missed it terribly. She wasn't even sure why she missed it, she was always so restless there, and it seemed no different in England. She knew Layla was aching right now; she had a boyfriend at their previous school, and had been very upset the past week or so.

"I'm hungry." Ren announced, cutting into Layla and Skye's idle conversation. "What about you?" She made eye contact with Layla, who hadn't had anything to eat since the previous day. Without waiting for a reply, she reached into her bag and grabbed two flasks. Tossing one at her sibling, Ren took a deep swig of the liquid and felt instant relief.

"I don't want it." Layla said.

"You know very well you need it." Ren said bitterly, fitting the flask onto her belt loop. "It's nice and warm, drink up."

"Fine, fine..." Layla said, taking a small gulp, almost as if expecting to be poisoned.

"Was that so hard?"

Layla didn't answer, and instead glanced at Skye, who had been completely forgotten for a moment. Skye sat there bewildered staring at the two, then shrugged it off. "Where did you say you two were from again?" Skye asked, trying to bring the conversation back to her.

"Thionville, France." Layla replied.

"We were born in Transylvania." Ren said, sounding displeased at the mention of France.

"Isn't that the vampire place..?" Skye asked, seeming nervous and excited at the same time.

"Yeah." Ren gave her a cocky grin. "The vampire place."

"That's pretty cool."

The morning flew by effortlessly with some chat here and there. A little sleep, some awkward silence, but nothing life changing or extreme. Noon rolled around, and a knock on the door marked the arrival of the little old snack lady. "I'd like some Pumpkin Pasties." Skye told the lady, pulling out a coin purse. "Do you guys want anything? You mentioned being hungry a while back."

"I'm fine." Ren said, sitting back in her seat, even if she was hungry, she didn't have a certain liking for Pumpkin Pasties. She glanced over at Layla, who looked uncomfortable at the thought of food. "Looks like Layla isn't up for anything to eat either."

"All right then." The lady and her cart moved on, and things returned to normal. Skye happily munched at her food, and the twins watched her eat wholeheartedly. "So what year are you in? You never mentioned it before."

"Fifth."

"Oh really? I'm a fifth year too." Skye seemed pleased with her new discovery, and smiled. "It'd be awesome if you made it in Gryffindor with me. I'm sure the other girls would like to have you." Ren smiled weakly, she really had no preference as to which house she was in, just as long as it had a comfortable bed for her.

"We'll see in a few hours." Layla said, seeming excited. "I can hardly wait to get there."

"You've been saying that the past week." Ren said, rolling her eyes, she unlike Layla was not excited at all. Feeling tired and bored of the conversation, Ren adjusted herself into a lax position and closed her eyes. She was tired, and could just about sleep through no matter what at this point. That's just what she did.

Hours later, she felt herself being shaken. "Come on Ren," she heard Layla say "wake up."

"Why? Are we there?"

"Nearly." Skye said, eyeing her street clothes. "You'd better change into your robes." Skye and Layla were already fitted in their uniform, making Ren feel out of place.

"Fine, fine..." she mumbled, sitting upright as she stretched. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Almost four hours, you were out cold." Layla said.

"Ah... Well that's fine with me. I needed the sleep, I'm beat." Ren said as she pulled down her trunk from the rack overhead. She found her uniform relatively easily, despite the fact that the trunk had been packed corner to corner with books, ink, parchment, and such. She was tugging her robe on while Layla and Skye chatted away. Ren was just pulling on her shoe when the train lurched and came to a stand still. A final sigh of steam from the engine, and all in unison, the hundreds of students jumped up from their seats and clambered for the exits.

"Nice to know we're here." Skye said, over the crowd. "It always seems to take forever to get here."

"Well… we've got to go along with the First years... for sorting and all." Ren said awkwardly. Skye made her slightly uncomfortable being so friendly, but still, she was the only person she now knew at Hogwarts and that was something comforting about the whole thing.

No one said anything for a moment, almost as if time stood still. Layla stared at Ren anxiously, as if waiting for her to say something. But nothing was said. Ren gave Syke one final awkward grin goodbye and abruptly turned around to leave. Following the trickle of First Years wasn't too hard; it was battling the other years that was difficult.

Many of them were much larger than Ren, and Layla clung to her hand desperate not to become separated. Eventually, the crowed thinned, and it was just the small stream of First Years left about them. A moment or two more, and the group came to a sudden halt just at the edge of a lake.

"I didn't know there was a lake here." Layla said

"Neither did I. There are probably going to be a lot of things here we didn't know about." Ren said shrugging it off.

" 'S e'ry one 'ere?" A gruff voice came from looming above. A few yards away, there stood a massive man. At least twice as tall and wide as the average man, his hands were as large as trash can lids, and his dark eyes were small and set back into the depths of his large, whisker covered face. His hair was a large mass of black tangles and hadn't looked like it had been combed in perhaps a year.

No one replied to him, they stood in awe of his appearance. "Well a'ight then. My name's Hagrid, an' I'm 'ere to escort yeh ter Hogwarts. E'ry one get in a boat, an' we'll be on our way." With that he took a seat in the closest boat to him, taking up the whole thing. Everyone else clambered for a seat. The very instance everyone had taken a seat, the boats magically propelled themselves across the lake. "Keep yet hands outta the water. Don' want the giant squid ter get any idears." Several people squealed at the idea of a giant squid living within the depths of the waters, and bent over the edge at the hopes of getting a glimpse at it. Ren glanced over to Layla, who was sitting opposite her, who responded with an eye roll.

"At least it's a nice night." Ren said to her, "The sky is so clear."

"Yeah, but I'm cold." Layla replied.

"We'll be there soon... Look, there's the castle, it's not long now."

Another couple minutes and Ren's teeth began to chatter, she was getting cold too. However, Hagrid's voice boomed out across the lake and over the laughing and murmuring of the students. "E'ryone watch yer head, that's righ'. We're passin' under some rocks so watch yer heads... allrigh' you can straighten out now." Looking back, the group had just passed through a small cavern, barely big enough for Hagrid to hunker down and get by. But luck was on their side, and they had made it through. Looking back ahead, Hogwarts stood on a grand cliff just a few yards ahead. The boats started to slow down, and they meet land. By this point, everyone was shivering considerably, as the wind was picking up. Layla and Ren were glued together in a feeble attempt to keep warm. Hagrid held his lantern above the group, checking to make sure everyone was assembled together before continuing. A short walk from the beach, there was a flight is rugged, narrow stairs. Squinting up at the general direction they were pointing, Ren saw they lead all the way up the cliff and to the school. Sighing at the thought of the long walk, she squeezed Layla's hand encouraging her sister.

Tired and breathless, the group reached the top within good time, and seemed enthralled that they were finally through. "Now that we've accomplished that," Hagrid told them "all tha's left is the sortin'."

"Thank god." Layla sighed. Ren could see she was exhausted, and quite frankly she was too. Striding over to the face of the castle, Hagrid walked up to a pair of enormous solid oak doors. The group of students crowded around him eagerly, and he took a giant fist to the doors, rapping his knuckles on the wood.

After waiting several moments, the door to the right opened up to a middle aged woman. She stood about the standard height, thin, but not scrawny. Her eyes sat behind a pair of glasses hanging from the tip of her nose. Her back hair was pulled away from her face into a tight bun on the back. Over all, Ren judged her to be stern, but with good thoughts in mind. She liked her, in a strange sort of way. "Greetings Hagrid." She said to them in a crisp voice "I trust everything went well?"

"Yes ma'am." Hagrid replied.

"Grand, come in children." She said, turning her attention to the new students. Opening the door wider, everyone filed in past her, seeming tense. The woman introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, the Headmistress and Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts. By that time, Hagrid had disappeared into the Great Hall, just off to the side of the Entrance Hall. No one said anything for a moment; Ren took this time to take in the feel of the school. Portraits of assorted people and places were all over the walls; some of the people were snoozing, or eating. But most of them were going about excitedly from portrait to portrait, talking and gesturing to the group of students. Ren wasn't sure if she should feel annoyed or appreciated by this, but it was no matter, McGonagall started to talk again; so all of Ren's attention was on her then. "Now then, all of you are about to be sorted. The sorting is a very important ceremony. Once your house has been chosen, your school life will revolve about your house. All leisure time, sleeping, assignments, and other various activities will take place in your house. The four houses are Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and Slytherin. The four houses not only have Quidditch competitions, but also compete for house points. Good deeds will be rewarded, while any mischievousness will be taken care of with point deductions." She paused and looked over all of them. "Everyone tidy up, I need to speak to Layla and Ren Sorge." Ren sent a confused look over to Layla, who in turn shrugged. Wading up through the crowd, the two were taken to the side and away from the crowd.

"The two of you are going to be sorted separately, Dumbledore's orders." McGonagall said "Any objections?" Ren shook her head, Layla shrugged. "Good. Wait here." McGonagall strode over to the First Years, explaining to them that they were to wait here for a moment, and then their time would come. McGonagall walked back to where she had left the two, beckoning them to follow her into the Great Hall.

The burst of sounds that erupted with the opening of the doors was deafening. Four long tables stretched from one end of the hall to the other, each packed with students. Leading the two straight down the middle, the hall became eerily quiet. Glancing up at the ceiling, Ren could see hundreds of thousands of candles floating about, giving the hall light, and warmth. But looking up even further, the actual ceiling was the real spectacle. It had been bewitched to appear as the current conditions outside did.

"J'ai la berlue!" Layla whispered. Ren couldn't help but grin, even though she was deadly nervous. McGonagall lead the two to the far end of the hall, stopping at a large table where the only adults to be seen were seated. Hagrid sat at the far end, but he was the only one Ren knew. In front of the table, about a meter from where they were standing, was a three legged stool, rather wobbly looking, with a patched and frayed hat perched on top of it. Ren wondered what they were possibly going to do with that, but didn't say anything, she and Layla stared onward expectantly to McGonagall.

"Well, here they are Albus." she said, directing her attention to an old man sitting in the center of the table. He had a long beard, stopping at about his waist. His face, was wrinkled, but kind. He stood up on place, looking at the sea of students, who stared back curiously. Nothing like this had ever happened at Hogwarts, and needless to say everyone was at a loss.

"We have a slight change in the ceremony this year." He said, in a loud voice, which was almost startling coming from an old man such as himself. "We have received two new students from abroad. Instead of sorting them with the First Years, I have chosen to sort them separately." He paused, and sat down. Ren could see he was a man of few words. Not knowing what to do next, she looked back to McGonagall anxiously.

"Layla first, then Ren. Sit on the stool, and place the Sorting Hat on your head." She said simply. Ren stood firmly planted where she was, watching Layla step forward and took a seat on the stool, just like instructed, and placed the filthy old hat on her head. Ren could see she was shaking, and she felt bad for her sister, then she noticed she was shaking too. After a moment, the Hat opened up a seam appearing to be a mouth, and screamed "GRYFFINDOR." so loud it was echoing through the hall.

"Gryffindor... Didn't Skye say she was in Gryffindor?" Ren thought to herself, but there wasn't time for her to think. It was her turn for Sorting. Nervously she approached the stool and sat down, placing the hat over her head.

"Another one eh?" She heard a voice say in her ear, but that wasn't her ear, the hat was in her thoughts!

"What do you mean 'Another one'? That's rude." Ren thought without thinking.

"You're feisty. You'd be well in Slytherin."

"But you put my sister in Gryffindor!"

"You'd rather be in Gryffindor!"

"That's what I said."

"No no no, you're Slytherin material. Your thick heritage, your general feel on society. Yes you belong in Slytherin."

"No. I belong with my sister."

"You're sure? You can't go back on your word; you really want to be in Gryffindor?"

"Yes!"

"Very well then." "GRYFFINDOR!"

The hall erupted in polite clapping, just as it had for Layla, but Ren wasn't fazed by this, all she wanted was to find Layla. Looking through the crowd at the table McGonagall had pointed her toward, she finally found Layla and squeezed in between her sister and a mousy Fourth Year. "Thank God that's over with." Ren said to Layla. "That was nerve racking. Literally."

A moment later and McGonagall was out again, this time appearing with the new First Years. But Ren didn't care one bit. The highlight of her day had come and gone. All she cared about was going to bed. She was extremely exhausted. She didn't pay attention to any of the sorting, nor to the song the hat sung to them. She was too busy spacing out staring at the ceiling to listen to Dumbledore's speech. She barely paid any attention to the Gryffindor Prefect as they lead the group of new students to the Common Room, she didn't bother to take in any of the sights, or talk to anyone, but as soon as she was directed to the Sixth Year dormitory, she was out cold on her bed.


	3. 1L

A pale girl with long, straight black hair falling to the middle of her back walked along the aisle of the scarlet passenger train. A few pieces of hair fell in front of her dark blue eyes, giving her an almost careless and untroubled look. Upon a closer look, one could see specks of red in her eyes, as a result of a hastily performed spell that didn't completely hide their true color. She seemed not to notice the weird looks she got as she glanced through the sliding glass doors on either side of her, apparently looking for something. Her baggy black cargo pants made a soft swishing noise with every step she took, the tip of a wand sticking out of the corner of one of the pockets on her left leg. A fitted black The Clash shirt completed her look.

As she reached the end of the train, an exasperated sigh escaped Layla Sorge's lips. She had been searching for a trace of excitement, but had found none. The only thing that was going on in the compartments was friends talking about their summers, and occasionally she had come across groups of younger, gossipy girls who were talking about cute guys and giggling insanely. As bored as she was fifteen minutes before when she had begun her quest for excitement, she headed back to the compartment where she had left her twin sister, Ren. The two were identical, except for Layla's hair, which was slightly longer than her sister's, and the shade of blue that their eyes were when they changed them from their natural red.

Slamming the glass door closed behind her, she said, "I don't know about you, but I'm about to scream from boredom," as she collapsed on the seat across from her sister.

"Nothing interesting in the other compartments?" Ren asked her, though it didn't sound like she really cared.

"Not a thing," Layla replied, sighing again.

"Damn. I suppose things will be more exciting once we arrive."

"I hope so, or else I'm leaving school. I never wanted to come here in the first place," Layla said with a small frown.

"I don't know… I kind of like the change of scenery."

"France had nice scenery, too," Layla said defensively.

"You just liked it because you had a boyfriend there." Layla's eyes became watery, and she quickly lowered her gaze so that her sister wouldn't see. She bit her lower lip, her thoughts back on her boyfriend, and guilt flooded through her. She barely even heard her sister add, "Don't even deny it. You know it's true, I know it's true."

Silence fell between them as they both stared out of the window. The whistle of the train seemed to echo around the small platform as kids quickly hugged their parents and siblings and dashed towards the doors on the train. Layla glanced at her watch, and said, "They're late. By five minutes."

"As long as we get there, I don't give a fuck."

"Well, someone's grumpy," Layla sneered, still upset about Ren's earlier remark about her boyfriend.

Across the compartment from her, Ren sighed. Layla couldn't help but notice how tired her sister looked. Neither of them had gotten any real sleep in days; they had been too busy packing, and then continuously switching trains as they left the place that had been their home for more than five years. This caused the sisters to be increasingly confrontational with each other.

Layla almost fell out of her seat as the train jolted forward sharply. As another whistle sounded and the train began to move forward, she glanced at Ren to see if her sister was silently laughing at her. Ren, however, was still staring out of the window, looking almost as if she was sleeping sitting upright.

"I wonder what house we'll be in," she mused, more to herself than her sister.

"What?" Ren asked groggily.

"The houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin."

"Oh… dunno… I guess it doesn't matter. Does it?"

"I guess not," Layla replied, shrugging.

The compartment door slid open, revealing a girl who grinned rather shyly at them. Her friendly face was framed by short, thick, light brown hair that was spiked in the back. Deep, cloudy blue eyes met Ren's eyes, then Layla's, before the girl spoke.

"Hi," she said, a curious expression forming on her face. "Are you two the exchange students? You don't look familiar at all."

"Yes, in fact, we are. I'm Layla, and this is Ren," she said, gesturing at her sister. "Who might you be?"

"Skye. Skye Emrys. Nice to meet you. Mind if I have a seat?"

Ren got up and went to sit beside her sister, so that neither Layla nor Skye had to sit beside a stranger. "Have at it," she said.

Ren stared out the window at the hills dotted with sheep, so Layla decided to try to be friendly and talk with Skye.

"Um… what's your favorite color?" she asked, saying the first thing that came to mind without realizing what she was asking until the words were already out of her mouth.

"Blue," Skye replied, biting back a laugh. "Hate silences?"

"Something like that," Layla said, grinning slightly. Beside her, Ren sighed, and she glanced at her sister with a worried look. Ren was still staring out of the window, oblivious to Layla's concern for her.

"So, where are you two coming from?" Skye asked, looking interested.

"France," Layla said, the smile falling from her face.

"Homesick?"

"Just a little."

"Don't worry, you'll love Hogwarts."

"Will you tell me about it? What kind of things do you do there? Is there anything exciting nearby? "

Skye opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Ren suddenly announced, "I'm hungry. What about you?"

Layla and Ren met each other's eyes. She hadn't eaten anything since the night before, but she hadn't even noticed how hungry she was until Ren mentioned it. Before Layla said anything, Ren pulled two flasks out of the bag at her feet. Layla's eyes widened as her sister pushed a flask into her hands and drank some from her own flask.

"I don't want it," Layla said, thinking about her boyfriend again.

"You know very well you need it," Ren sounded bitter as she attached her flask to her belt loop. "It's nice and warm, drink up."

"Fine, fine," Layla muttered, succumbing to her hunger, and took a small, reluctant sip.

"Was that so hard?" Ren asked her, almost mockingly.

Layla said nothing, but glanced at Skye, who had been watching the little argument silently from across the compartment. She gave the two a confused look, but didn't pry, for which Layla was very grateful.

"Where did you say you two were from again?" Skye asked, breaking the awkward silence that had formed.

"Thionville, Lorraine, France," Layla replied.

"We were born in Transylvania," Ren said quickly.

"Isn't that the vampire place…?" Skye asked, sounding excited and nervous at the same time. Layla glanced at her sister, but Skye was too amazed to notice.

"Yeah," Ren said with a cocky grin, also not noticing Layla. "The vampire place."

"That's pretty cool."

The next few hours passed quickly, with many long silences as all three daydreamed, dozed, or made small talk. They all jumped when a knock sounded on the door, and it opened to reveal an old witch with a snack cart. She smiled at the teenagers, and Skye got up and went over to get some food, pulling out a purse full of coins.

"I'd like some Pumpkin Pasties," she said, before turning to the twins. "Do you guys want anything? You mentioned being hungry a while back."

"I'm fine," Ren replied, as Layla wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Looks like Layla isn't up for anything to eat, either."

"All right then." The snack cart clattered on down the aisle, and Layla felt less sick now that the food was no longer in sight, though she could still smell it. "So, what year are you in? You never mentioned it before," Skye continued, unwrapping a pasty.

"Fifth," Ren said.

"Oh, really? I'm a fifth year, too. It'd be awesome if you made it in Gryffindor with me. I'm sure the other girls would like to have you," Skye said, smiling brightly.

Layla grinned, but beside her, Ren only managed a weak smile. She was looking more exhausted than ever, and Layla was worried about her again. Despite the fact that she was the younger twin, Layla always felt that she needed to protect her sister from the world, though she often failed miserably at her task.

"We'll see in a few hours," Layla said, pushing her concern to the back of her mind. "I can hardly wait to get there."

"You're been saying that the past week." No excitement was present in Ren's voice as she said that. Moving her body into a more comfortable position, she soon fell asleep.

Layla and Skye talked about Hogwarts for the next few hours, occasionally stopping their conversation to shoot spells at Ren. The two girls bonded as they magically dyed Ren's hair different colors while she slept. Peering out the window, Skye managed to find a recognizable landmark through the gathering darkness. After changing into her robes, Layla remembered that her sister was still asleep, and shook her.

"Come on, Ren. Wake up."

"Why? Are we there?" Ren asked drowsily, beginning to stir.

"Nearly. You'd better change into your robes," Skye said.

"Fine, fine… How long have I been asleep?" Ren asked as she sat up and stretched.

"Almost four hours, you were out cold," Layla said.

"Ah, well, that's fine with me. I needed the sleep, I'm beat."

Ren pulled her trunk down from the rack overhead, and got out her robes after rummaging around a bit.

"What do you do during the Sorting?" Layla asked nervously, glancing out the window.

"Just sit on a stool with a hat on your head, it's nothing to worry about," Skye assured her.

"That's all? Seriously? You're not just saying that to make me feel better?"

"Calm down, Layla, it's as simple as that. Nothing to worry about."

The train stopped suddenly, and Layla fell backwards besides her sister, who was sitting on the ground putting on her shoes, fully dressed other than that. A sea of students poured from the train onto the platform beside it, and Layla looked even paler than usual, which was saying something.

"Nice to know we're here. It always seems to take forever to get here." Skye said as they joined the crowd outside the compartment.

"Well… we've got to go along with the First Years… for sorting and all," Ren said, looking uncomfortable.

Though there were hundred of students chattering around them, it seemed to be deadly silent to Layla. She looked quizzically at her sister, wondering if she would say something else. Ren smiled awkwardly at Skye, and turned to leave. Layla hastily said goodbye and grabbed her sister's hand, determined not to be separated as most of the students headed in a different direction than them. It didn't help that the majority of the people were always taller than the twins, either. Once most of the students had disappeared in the night, there was just a small group of First Years and the two fifteen year olds, standing beside a dark lake.

"I didn't know there was a lake here," Layla said softly, mesmerized by the moon reflected in the water and the little array of boats bobbing beside the shore.

"Neither did I. There a probably going to be a lot of things here we didn't know about."

"'S e'ry one 'ere?"

Layla looked around and wondered how she could have missed the giant man standing nearby. He was twice as tall and wide as an average man, and the tangled black beard and hair that covered most of his face barely allowed his kind black eyes to show through. When nobody said anything, he continued, "Well a'ight then. Me name's Hagrid, an' I'm 'ere to escort yeh ter Hogwarts. E'ry one get in a boat, an' we'll be on our way." He stepped into the boat closest to him, filling up the entire thing, and waited for everyone to scramble into a boat. The boats magically began to move across the lake, as Hagrid said loudly, "Keep yer hands outta the water. Don' want the giant squid ter get any idears."

Layla heard a few people squeal loudly at that, and laughed softly. She rolled her eyes as she watched some of the kids bend over the edge of their boats, as if hoping to see a giant squid through the black reflective surface of the water.

"At least it's a nice night. The sky is so clear," Ren said to her, staring upwards.

"Yeah, but I'm cold," Layla said, shivering despite herself.

"We'll be there soon… look, there's the castle; it's not long now."

The boats had just floated past the trees blocking the view, and Layla gaped at the magnificent view before her. On top of a cliff, the towers of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry stood prominently, the windows releasing a soft yellow light. Hagrid's gruff voice boomed out from the head of the cluster of boats, startling Layla from her trance.

"E'ryone watch yer head, that's righ'. We're passin' under some rocks so watch yer heads… all righ' you can straighten out now."

Layla looked back, seeing that they had just entered a cave whose entrance was covered with falling ivy. Turning back around to look forward, she saw that they were just a few yards away from a rocky outcrop with a set of stairs carved into side, leading up into the darkness. The wind picked up, and Layla got up the boat and began walking, hugging onto Ren in a feeble attempt to stay warm. After a long trek up the stairs, they reached the top, more exhausted than ever, and stared at the giant wooden doors.

"Now that we've accomplished that, all tha's left is the sortin'," Hagrid told them cheerfully.

"Thank god," Layla sighed, as Hagrid knocked on the door.

A few moments later, the door on the right opened to reveal a thin, middle-aged woman. Her black hair was pulled back into a bun, and a pointed black hat sat atop her head. Her stern, yet warm eyes looked at the group of young students from behind a pair of glasses.

"Greetings, Hagrid. I trust everything went well?" she inquired brusquely.

"Yes ma'am," he said with a nod.

"Grand; come in, children," she said, fixing her attention on the students once again.

The eleven year olds shuffled past her, looking tense and nervous, as if expecting her to attack them at any moment. Hagrid disappeared through a set of doors in the Entrance Hall as the woman introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress, Transfiguration teacher, and Head of Gryffindor House. During the brief silence, Layla glanced around the Hall, admiring the inhabitants of the portraits as they ran excitedly across each other's canvases, pointing at the new students.

"Now then, all of you are about to be sorted. The sorting is a very important ceremony. Once your house has been chosen, your school life will revolve about your house. All leisure time, sleeping, assignments, and other various activities will take place in your house. The four houses are Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and Slytherin. The four houses not only have Quidditch competitions, but also compete for house points. Good deeds will be rewarded, while any mischievousness will be taken care of with point deductions." There was a brief pause as McGonagall looked at the awestruck group before her. Layla had to stifle more laughter as she watched the first years gape at the professor like little fish. "Everyone tidy up, I need to speak to Layla and Ren Sorge."

The twins shot each other confused looks, and Layla shrugged, silently saying that she had no idea what was going on, either. They followed Professor McGonagall over to the doors which Hagrid had gone through, and heard the voices of what they could only assume was the rest of the students.

"The two of you are going to be sorted separately, Dumbledore's orders. Any objections?" Ren shook her head, and Layla shrugged again. "Good. Wait here."

McGonagall walked back across the hall to the First Years, who were shooting the twins curious looks. After quickly explaining that they were to wait there for a few minutes, she went back to the twins, and opened the doors to the Great Hall. A flood of voices fell upon them as they followed her in, and Layla began to shake with nerves. Four long tables filled with students ran parallel to them as they walked towards the staff table. Layla wondered how the First Years were supposed to fit when it seemed like all the seats were filled, but didn't brood on it. She glanced at her sister, seeking reassurance, but Ren was staring upwards. Layla followed her guide, and let out a soft gasp of shock. Above the hundreds of floating candles, the sky was bewitched to look like the sky as it currently was. She almost tripped over the hem of her robes as she admired the clear, dark sky.

"J'ai la berlue!" Layla whispered, and Ren grinned at her.

In front of the staff table, when they reached it, was a three legged stool, on top of which was an ancient looking hat. Layla stared at Professor McGonagall, still wondering if Skye was telling the truth when she had said all they needed to do was try on a hat.

"Well, here they are, Albus," Professor McGonagall said to the old man sitting at the center of the table. His long, silver beard and hair was smooth and straight, much unlike Hagrid's bushy, tangled black mane. His twinkling blue eyes looked at the twins from a kind, wrinkled face, and he stood up. The Hall had fallen silent; nothing like this had ever happened at Hogwarts, and they were waiting for an explanation.

"We have a slight change in the ceremony this year," he said loudly. "We have received two new students from abroad. Instead of sorting them with the first years, I have chosen to sort them separately."

He sat down, and Professor McGonagall stepped forward to address the girls. "Layla first, then Ren. Sit on the stool, and place the Sorting Hat on your head."

Layla did as she was instructed, though when she sat down her hands were shaking.

"Ah, we haven't had anyone like you for a very long time," the hat said, and Layla wondered if she was going insane, until she realized that it was the hat.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to discriminate?"

The hat chuckled in her ear. "Let's take a look at you, shall we? You're smart… yes, but not exceptionally determined to succeed; academically, at least. You're caring, but don't trust easily. Cunning, and, of course, dark… but you're brave, and loyal. Yes, I think…"

Layla had remained silent as it talked, and winced as it suddenly yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Realizing that it was done, she got up and put the hat back on the stool. After shooting her sister a small, encouraging smile, she walked over to the table that was clapping the loudest. She didn't see Skye anywhere, so she sat beside a group of Fourth Year girls. Ren sat on the stool for about a minute before the hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" again.

The rest of the students clapped politely, though a few dark haired Gryffindor guys jumped up and began shouting about how they had gotten _both _of the transfers. They looked pointedly at the students of the table across the Hall as they did this.

Ren sat down in the empty seat next to Layla and said, "Thank god that's over with. That was nerve racking. Literally."

McGonagall had disappeared, but returned a moment later followed by the First Years. The twins both dozed as the others were sorted. When the feast began, Layla drank some more from her flask, and ignored the curious looks from the girls sitting nearby. She also ignored Dumbledore's speech, which was luckily quite short. Ren was practically sleepwalking at this point, so Layla, stumbling from exhaustion and almost carrying her sister, followed the Gryffindor Prefect up through a portrait on the seventh floor. After her sister had collapsed on her four-poster bed, Layla fell onto her own. Though it usually took her hours to fall asleep, she was dead to the world seconds after her head hit the pillow.


	4. 2R

Ren woke up to her younger sister bent over her, fully clothed in her uniform. "Wake up, Ren." Layla said, shaking her shoulder. "Everyone else is gone; we can't be late our first day." That was pretty typical of Layla. Though deep down she didn't really care, but Layla knew what was best for the two, and insisted that their schooling came first. Ren respected her for that; she was always mature when it came to things like that. Rousing herself from her pillow, Ren saw that she had neglected to change out from her uniform.

"I'm coming." she muttered, throwing her legs over the edge. Layla hadn't heard, she was in the bathroom off to the side of the room. Looking around, Ren saw three other beds. One was for Skye, she knew that from the bit of conversation they had on the train, but she had no idea who the others were. No matter. She would soon learn. Noticing her trunk had been place at the foot of her four poster bed, she extracted a new set of robes. A red and gold tie, Gryffindor colors of course, a white button up shirt, a tightly knit gray vest, good for cool days, a short pleated black skirt, plain black shoes and white stockings. It was a generic look for all boarding schools. She knew well about the typical boarding school look. She had, after all, gone to school in Northern France, and had visited other schools as well.

"Hurry up." Layla called from the bathroom.

"I'm right here." Ren said, getting aggravated, she walked into the bathroom and started to comb her hair. By the time she got to brushing her teeth, Layla was waiting impatiently by the door with their bags. "See? I can get ready just as well as you, and in less time." Ren took her bag from the clutches of her sister, and slung it over her bag. "Now let's go."

Flying down the stairs, Ren could see that the Gryffindor Common Room was spectacular in every aspect. The tapestry lining the walls was old, but well kept and splendid to look at. Tables lined the walls, wooden chairs placed evenly a long the sides. Dictionaries and other generic books were piled on sever of the tables. A grand hearth stood on one wall, so large A dozen people could all stand in there comfortably. Squashy red chairs were scattered about, most of them located in the vicinity of the fireplace for those cold nights. Ren could have stood there for a full hour staring at its splendor, but it wasn't until Layla pulled anxiously at her arm that she realized she had things to do.

Stepping out through the portrait of the Fat Lady, they were nearly alone in the corridor. A small group of girls stood on the other side of the hallway. "Skye!" Layla called. Ren didn't even notice that Skye had been with them. She twisted her head around giving the twins a gleeful smile.

"Hey you two." Skye said, rushing up to them. "I wasn't sure if you were gone or not yet. But since we're together, let's go to breakfast together."

"That'd be good, I was so tired last night I couldn't recall the way there if my life depended on it." Layla told her, breathing a sigh of relief. "I know my Ren doesn't know; I was practically carrying her to her bed."

"You were not." Ren protested.

"Sure." Layla said, half laughing as she ruffled Ren's hair.

"Stop it." Ren said, pushing her sister's hand away "Let's just go."

From the look she got from Layla, Ren could see she was hurt, but understanding as well. They had been under a lot of stress recently. Ren could see that Layla was getting a long with Skye, but she on the other hand had a harder time opening up to people and becoming friends with them. She lagged behind Layla and Skye slightly, letting the two talk; she didn't want any part of their conversation. She was too tired and restless to try and have any conversations.

Reaching the Great Hall, the three sat down together at one end of the table. Not nearly as many people were up yet, so the hall was considerably less crowded, and quieter. Looking toward the ceiling, she could see the day was going to be cloudy, and lackluster. But it didn't feel so. She almost felt like something incredible was going to happen. Something indescribable, but amazing. McGonagall came by, sorting through a pile of parchment, and handing each of the girls a sheet of paper. Glancing at it, Ren could see that it was their schedule. But she would look at that later. Her eyes followed McGonagall as she distributed the schedules to various students. Ren's eyes fell on one particular girl down the table. She had short wavy hair, about the length of Ren's, but a bright red color. She was slender, and tall, very pretty. She was sitting with another girl who seemed to be a few inches shorter than her, and slightly dumpy. Her hair was long and black, falling before her face. The red head looked up and locked eyes with Ren, for some reason, neither of them could take their eyes off each other. It wasn't until Skye said something to Ren that she broke the link. "Sorry. What?" Ren asked, looking back Skye.

"I asked if you were going to eat anything."

"Oh. I'm not really that hungry. I'll have some eggs though." She said reluctantly. Next to her, Layla took out her flask and took a swig. Serving out some eggs onto her plate, Ren looked around the Great Hall some more. The Slytherin table was to one side of them, in between the Gryffindor table and the exterior wall. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were to the other side of them. Their students seemed pleasant, but the majority of the Slytherin students just stuck out in a bad way. They seemed to be the kind of people who had thoughts of superiority over everyone else. The kids who felt they had full rights to whatever they wanted. In short, the spoiled kids. The bad eggs.

"We should be going. Potions first," Skye said, sighing. "Don't want to be late. Slughorn doesn't like me as it is."

"Why not?" Layla asked, standing up with the other two and slinging her bag over her shoulder.

"Slughorn has a nasty habit of favoring students. Unfortunately, I'm not one of his favorites." Ren paused for a moment, looking back to where the red head was, but apparently she had gone. Ren couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something about that girl that made her seem almost drawn to her. Layla took hold on Ren's hand, getting impatient with her and tugging.

"Let's go Ren." She said, half whining.

"All right, I'm coming." Ren sighed, feeling strange.

Heading for the dungeons, Ren found the underground portion of Hogwarts much less appealing than the rest of the castle. The lighting was poor, only dim flickers of light came from torches lining the wall, casting odd shaped shadows about the corridor. Coming to a halt at the end of the corridor, Skye lead Ren and Layla into the classroom. Cauldrons and battered old tables were spread about the classroom. The teacher's desk stood at the front of the room, a large blackboard on the wall behind it, and to the side was a large cauldron for the professor's use. Some sort of liquid was brewing within it, by the color and the smell, Ren guessed it was a befuddlement potion. Skye and Layla took a table in the back, but the closest Ren could be to them was the table just to the front of theirs. There sat a lone Ravenclaw. Ren saw no harm, and sat her things down and took a seat.

Class started and still the professor hadn't come. Ren wondered what could possibly be keeping him. But no one else seemed to mind. They continued on talking and carrying on. "Slughorn likes to be dramatic. He always starts class late on the first day." Skye said to Layla. Before long, a faint wheezing could be heard coming down the corridor. As opposed to taking a look outside to see what was causing the noise, many students crouched down into their seats. Layla and Ren, on the other hand, sat up straight in their chairs anxiously wanting to see who the oncoming person was. The wheezing steadily got louder and more violent, and in came an enormous man. His stomach protruded far over the belt holding up his maroon trousers, which were matched with a maroon vest and suit, held together with large brass buttons. The man was mostly bald, however the few hairs left were a faint corn silk color. A large, walrus like mustache outlined his chubby face, and mouth. He reminded her of an inflated Santa Claus, only less jolly, less hair, and much more round.

Strenuously turning his fat head about the room, he bounced slightly on the balls of his feet, before waddling over to the desk and pulling out a parchment. Waving it around, he wheezed his way through attendance. It was then that it was clear he was biased to some teachers more than others. Some students he eagerly greeted, while others he seemed to barely acknowledge their presence. At the moment, Ren couldn't tell what he was thinking of her and her sister, but she didn't care. If he had any interest at all in her that was fine, but if he seemed to not like her, that was fine too. For the most part, Ren tried to remain neutral with Professors.

Class seemed to drag on, and by the time Professor Slughorn dismissed the class through wheezes, Ren felt as though she would go insane if she didn't do something at all of interest. "That class seems lackluster." Layla sighed.

"Le vieux garçon." Ren said to Layla sarcastically.

"It'll pick up." Skye said, ignoring Ren's remark, not seeming to entirely understand. "He generally is a bore though, he's especially fond of the Slytherin students, since he's the head of the house, but he gets attached to a lot of students."

"Does he like you?" Layla asked

"Not especially." Skye shrugged, "but he's got nothing against me either."

"It's not like it matters does it?" Ren asked, seeming bored with this subject.

"No, I suppose not."

"Problem solved."

The rest of the day dragged on. Defense Against the Dark Arts proved interesting. The professor, Professor Daniels was a middle aged man. He was tall and lean, with a thick mass of hair and a long black beard. Judging by his accent, he was from the Middle East, but a very nice man. He was well traveled and a nice man, laid back and simple. Ren liked him from the first time he stepped foot in the classroom. Though she spied a silver cross hung around his neck, which was a slight turn off. Ren and Layla weren't raised to be religious at all, and had no desire to be, but that wasn't a big deal. The way she figured it, as long as she stayed off the topic of religion as a whole with people, she wouldn't have to worry about other people trying to convert her. The actual class on the other hand, was a slight let down; the whole hour was spent copying notes from the blackboard.

Transfiguration didn't prove to be of much enjoyment either. McGonagall seemed to be a very stern professor, which lead Ren to think she didn't have much of a chance of any fun in that class. All the same, Ren enjoyed Transfiguration, and figured that was fun enough.

By the end of the day, Ren felt quite a bit more adjusted to life at Hogwarts than she had earlier in the day. Hogwarts took getting used to, but Ren could sense that somehow the castle would become home in more ways that one. Which lead her to appreciate their transition to Britain. Just days ago she was enthralled with the idea of moving to England and taking up studies at Hogwarts, and now her thoughts were confirmed. So far life at Hogwarts had proved to be interesting and had much more character than at her previous school.

Supper was pleasant. Not as grand as it had been the previous night, but that was to be expected. It was food, and it wasn't of poor quality, though Ren still had a hard time adjusting to the British food in comparison to French. That, however, was not a big deal and by the time supper was over, it didn't matter. Either way, she was full, and that was good. "J'ai les dents de fond qui baignent." Ren said, sighing happily.

"Toute famille a son bâfreur," Layla said sniggering, she always got a kick out of poking fun at Ren. Normally Ren would have come up with something vulgar to say in response, but at this point she was so sleepy and content she didn't even care.

After dinner, as most did, the three of them returned to the Gryffindor Common Room to study and do the small amount of work they had received for the day before finally relaxing and retiring for the night. The common room was a pleasant environment to work in. Warm air radiated from the grand fire that was crackling in the hearth, as well as the candles scattered and floating about. Small groups of people would mingle among themselves, and an occasional outburst of laughter would ring through the room.

Ren had finished with her studies and was pointing something out to Layla from one of their text books when she looked up for one reason or another. Her eyes fell upon one particular group, one of the girls emerged within the crowd turned out to be the red haired girl Ren had seen at breakfast. She didn't know why, but whenever she saw her, Ren felt something odd twinge within her. Like she should do something. However, she ignored this impulse and returned to her studies.

For one reason or another, when Ren was groggily walking up the stairs to retire to bed, she purposefully walked at a slow and steady pace. The red haired girl still sat by the fire with her group of friends, all seeming very content and happy. Apparently the red head felt Ren's eyes upon her, because she turned to look back into Ren's eyes and the two pairs of glistening orbs meet just before Ren walked from out of view.

Hitting the blankets, the last thing imprinted into Ren's vision and thoughts was that image of the red haired girl.


	5. 2L

There was nothing around her except for darkness. She fell through the black, falling farther and farther into the abyss of her mind. Layla waited, knowing that she would hit the bottom soon. Yet she never did. Just when she was certain that she couldn't fall much farther, that she had to land soon, the sound of someone kicking a trunk and the soft cussing that followed it woke her. The door opened and closed softly as whoever had tripped left the room.

Almost instantly, she realized that she was in an unfamiliar place; the sights, sounds, and smells were all different, and they triggered her internal alarms. Merely a second later, she was standing on her bed, having thrown off her covers and jumped up at a remarkable speed. Her eyes instantly adjusted to the darkness, and she realized that she was in her four-poster bed, with the curtains shielding her from the rest of the world. Mentally berating herself for panicking so quickly, Layla pulled back the crimson curtains, noticing that their color reminded her of blood. Wincing slightly at the thought, she peered at the clock beside her bed. It was just after six. She paused for a moment, silently debating whether or not school was really important, but realized that she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep. A stream of cuss words in French issued from her mouth as she trudged towards a light that she assumed was a beacon directing her towards the bathroom. After a quick shower, she felt a bit more alive, and dressed in her new uniform.

As she looked at herself in the mirror, she realized that she was in an outfit very similar to the one that she had worn at her old school in France. A white button-up shirt covered her upper half, mostly covered by a plain grey vest, and tucked neatly into a knee-length grey skirt. Boring white stockings, shiny black shoes with a silver buckle, and a black cloak with the Gryffindor emblem finished off the outfit. She frowned at her reflection, and then turned her attention towards the striped red and gold tie in her hand. A few minutes later, her tie hung loosely around her neck; another one that she had retrieved from her trunk was around her waist as a makeshift belt. Her shirt now hung out of her waistband, since it was only tucked in on the sides.

Glancing at the clock again, she saw that forty-five minutes had passed. The curtains on Ren's bed were still drawn shut.

"Not fair," she muttered as she trudged over to her sister's bed. "I had to wake up early."

She pulled back the curtains and looked at her sister, surprised for a moment at how peaceful she looked. She didn't want to wake her up, but they couldn't be late for classes on their first day; it would make a bad impression. Layla shook her sister's shoulder gently. "Wake up, Ren." Ren blinked groggily at her, looking confused. "Everyone else is gone; we can't be late our first day."

For a minute, Ren just stared at her, as if thinking about something. "I'm coming," she muttered, sitting up.

Layla headed back to the bathroom. After quickly running a brush through her hair, she pulled her long black hair into a messy bun, and gave herself a final look-over. She didn't really care what people thought of her, but she was in a rather self-conscious mood and had to feel that she looked good, even if she was the only person who though so.

"Hurry up," Layla called, poking her head of the bathroom to make sure her sister was moving.

"I'm right here," Ren said somewhat angrily, entering the bathroom. Layla went back over to her trunk and got her bag ready, then did the same for her sister. She dropped the two bags by the door and waited impatiently, clearing her throat loudly every few minutes just for the effect.

"See? I can get ready just as well as you, and in less time." Ren came out of the bathroom wearing a slightly crumpled uniform, an aggravated look on her face. She took her bag from Layla, who was letting it swing in her hand in a bored manner. "Now let's go."

Layla followed her twin down the stairs, at a slightly slower pace. Now awake, Ren seemed to be full of energy. She almost walked into her sister when they reached the bottom of the spiral staircase, as Ren had stopped suddenly.

"Tu as l'air con," Layla muttered, but her sister didn't seem to hear her. Ren stared around the room, but Layla knew that they'd have time to stare later, if they so desired. She tugged on the sleeve of her sister's robe, and almost dragged her across the room.

As they stepped out of the portrait hole, Layla realized that both of them were too tired last night to notice where they had been walking. For a moment, she worried that they would be late solely because they would get lost, but then she noticed a few girls standing farther down the corridor. She bit her lip; though she had taken to Skye rather quickly, she usually didn't like to talk to people very often, and hated to ask favors of others. She almost breathed a sigh of relief when she recognized one of the girls in the assembly.

"Skye!" Layla called, walking towards her.

Skye turned and smiled at the twins, quickly excused herself from the group, and walked towards them, meeting Layla in the middle of the corridor; Ren was trailing behind slightly.

"Hey, you two," she said brightly. "I wasn't sure if you were gone or not yet. But sine we're together, let's go down to breakfast together."

"That'd be good; I was so tired last night I couldn't recall the way there if my life depended on it," Layla agreed. "I know my Ren doesn't know; I was practically carrying her to her bed."

"You were not," Ren protested, speaking for the first time since they had left the bedroom.

"Sure," Layla chuckled, ruffling her sister's hair fondly.

"Stop it," Ren said, pushing her sister's hand away. "Let's just go."

Layla's lips tilted downwards a little, stung by her sister's actions and harsh words. Nevertheless, she nodded slightly to her sister, silently acknowledging that she understood and would stop.

As Ren lagged behind, Layla and Skye talked about the lessons. Layla was pleased to discover that her sister and she would be slightly ahead of the students here, though not by much. Though she found the conversation quite interesting, she was deep in thought at the same time. She had always had a hard time opening up with people, or even holding a conversation with someone that she hadn't know for a long time. Skye, though, was surprisingly easy to talk to.

The three sat down in a few empty seats at the end of the Gryffindor table closest to the doors. The room was creepily empty, as most people had yet to go down for breakfast. Ren was staring up at the magical ceiling, which was grey and cloudy. She seemed to be lost in thought again.

McGonagall handed some pieces of parchments to a group of students clustered in the middle of the long table, and then walked towards the three loners at the end. She handed each one of them a schedule of classes from her stack of parchments, before going back down the table to where two girls had just sat down, and proceeded to give them their schedules, as well. Layla glanced down at hers, then looked up at her sister, to see if they had the same classes, though she was pretty sure they would. Ren was staring at the two girls McGonagall has just visited, her eyes never leaving the ones belonging to the redhead. Layla watched the silent, trance-like exchange, wondering what exactly was happening and what her sister was thinking.

"Are you two going to eat anything?" Skye asked, taking a bite out of the muffin in her hand.

"Sorry. What?" Ren asked, looking a bit disoriented.

"I asked if you were going to eat anything."

"Oh. I'm not really that hungry. I'll have some eggs though," Ren said, putting some onto her plate and surveying the Great Hall.

Layla drank a little from the flask on her waist before taking a muffin from the bowl in front of her. She shot a nasty glare at the bacon and sausage plate on her right before taking a bite. Trying to avoid falling asleep, she stared up at the enchanted ceiling, mesmerized by how realistic it looked.

"We should be going. Potions first," Skye said with a sigh. "Don't want to be late. Slughorn doesn't like me as it is."

"Why not?" Layla inquired, picking up her bag and putting it on her right shoulder in one smooth motion.

"Slughorn has a nasty habit of favoring students. Unfortunately, I'm not one of his favorites," Skye explained as the three walked out of the Great Hall, which was considerably more crowded now.

Layla, seeing that her sister was lagging behind again, grabbed her hand and gave it a tug. "Let's go, Ren," she said, trying not to voice her exasperation.

"All right, I'm coming," Ren sighed.

Walking down to the dungeons where Potions was held, Layla was rather surprised to discover just how cold and dark it was. She had guessed, by the name of the area, that it wouldn't be quite as pleasant as the upper portion of the school, but hadn't expected the intensity of it.

Torches sat crookedly in brackets spaced out on the wall, casting creepy shadows on the walls. The spacing between the torches was wide, leaving areas of the corridor that seemed to be almost filled with mist, caused by the flicker of light on either side of the students. At the end of the corridor, Skye lead the twins into the Potions classroom. Two rows of battered tables, each with an assortment of holes and burns, ran perpendicular to the door. At the front of the room, a few feet to their right, was Slughorn's desk, behind which was a large blackboard. Beside it, his cauldron held a simmering concoction, which Layla quickly identified as a Befuddlement Potion.

Skye quickly walked to a table at the back, and Layla followed, Ren right behind her. Layla ended up sitting beside Skye at the table farthest from the door, and Ren sat right in front of them with a girl from Ravenclaw.

Five minutes after class had officially begun, Professor Slughorn still hadn't appeared. The chatter of her classmates filled the room, and Layla shot Skye a questioning look.

"Slughorn likes to be dramatic. He always starts class late on the first day," she explained.

Layla's ears caught a faint wheezing sound about a minute before anyone else in the class did, with the exception of her sister. Both of the sisters looked towards the door and stared, waiting. The other students, when they finally heard it, grew silent and slouched down in their seats. As the noise coming from the corridor grew louder, Layla tried to gather what information she could of the person. A fat, aging man was the best impression she could make, and it turned out to be quite accurate as Professor Slughorn came into the room.

His outfit was entirely maroon, with brass buttons on the vest and suit. Layla was given the impression of an overly ripe raspberry, and tried not to laugh, as that certainly wouldn't put her at the top of Slughorn's list. His head had only a few wisps of hair left, and they were a graying blond. A large mustache hung down his chubby face, outlining his large mouth.

The professor surveyed the room for a moment, before waddling over to his desk and picking up a piece of parchment. Layla again was forced to stifle a laugh, this time as she was reminded of a penguin walking. Calling out the students' names, Layla realized just how right Skye had been; Slughorn was very biased. Some students he greeted eagerly with a bright smile, while others, like Skye, he just nodded at. He shot inquiring looks at Ren and Layla, when he reached them, as if he was looking over horses to determine whether or not they had good qualities that would make him a profit if he were to sell them. Layla met his eyes with a defiant glare, not appreciating the way that he looked at her and her older sister at all. Despite the fact that she was the younger twin, she felt a fierce protectiveness over her sister.

Professor Slughorn spent the entire period talking about what he expected of them, the importance of OWLs, and what they would cover this year. Layla struggled to not fall asleep, feeling quite disappointed. Though she didn't care whether or not she did well in school, she loved learning, and usually loved her classes. She hated when a good class was ruined for her by a boring teacher.

"That class seems lackluster," Layla sighed after they were dismissed.

"Le vieux garçon," Ren said sarcastically to her, and Layla bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"It'll pick up," Skye said, looking a bit left out as she hadn't understood what Ren had just said. "He generally is a bore, though; he's especially fond of the Slytherin students, since he's the Head of the house, but he gets attached to a lot of students."

"Does he like you?" Layla asked her, though she had already guessed the answer, by the way Slughorn had greeted her in class.

"Not especially, but he's got nothing against me, either," Skye replied, shrugging.

"It's not like it matters, does it?" Ren said in a bored voice.

"No, I suppose not."

"Problem solved."

Layla resisted the urge to hit her sister upside the head. Skye looked kind of downhearted, as Ren showed absolutely no signs of liking her, and she had just tried to be friendly. Layla put an arm around Skye's shoulders and gave her a small hug, coaxing a smile out of the girl.

The rest of the day passed without much excitement. Defense Against the Dark Arts passed similarly to Potions, in that notes were copied from the blackboard. Professor Daniels, the DADA teacher, was a calm person of Middle Eastern descent, and a kid at heart, though he was nearing the top of the hill. He was nice enough, but Layla saw a large silver cross hanging from his neck and he instantly dropped a little in her book. Neither her sister nor her were raised to be religious, but she had developed something that her sister hadn't over the years; an utter hatred of religion in general. Layla could tolerate people who had religions, but the more religious they were, the less she could stand them. She planned on having a debate with him one day over the existence, or lack thereof, of a god. She also decided that she would debate with him about how the way people taught about werewolves and vampires was deceiving and needed to be rethought.

Transfiguration passed the same way as the previous two classes, with notes and a discussion over the importance of OWLs. McGonagall had a commanding presence about her, as she stood in the front of the room in neat black robes, her dark hair pulled back from her face in a tight bun. Layla could tell that she was a good teacher, and that the class would be enjoyable.

By dinnertime, Layla felt much more comfortable in the castle. She was learning how to get between her classes, and loved the medieval feel the place had. She planned on exploring the castle grounds on the weekend; Hogwarts was quickly feeling like a home. Her old school in France had taken much longer to adjust to, but Layla knew that she would probably never fully get rid of her homesickness.

Dinner in itself was a nice affair. It wasn't as elaborate as the feast last night, but that had been a special occasion; though surviving your first day of classes could also be considered an occasion worth celebrating. The food took some getting used to, but Layla had always loved trying new foods, as long as they weren't meat.

"J'ai les dents de fond qui baignent," Ren said with a content sigh, as the food vanished from the tables.

"Toute famille a son bâfreur," Layla said, laughing softly; she loved teasing her sister. Ren gave her a sleepy glare, which only made her laugh more.

The three followed most of the other Gryffindors as they went up to the Common Room. It was a good place to study and do homework in, as it provided a warm, rather calm environment. Various little groups of people would sit around the room, occasionally bursting into laughter, receiving curious glances from other groups as they did this. Layla found it rather amusing to watch the people in the room.

Skye was finishing up the last of her homework as Ren showed Layla a passage in one of their books that she found amusing. Suddenly, Ren looked up and froze, her mouth dropping open the slightest bit. Layla followed her gaze to the redheaded girl that Ren had been staring at during breakfast. She watched her sister, trying to figure out her thoughts, but Ren shook her head and looked back at the book before Layla could figure out what was happening.

About half an hour later, as Skye and the twins headed up, Layla noticed her sister lagging behind again, staring at the same girl as before. They made eye contact again, just like at breakfast, before Ren's feet carried her unwillingly away from the connection. Layla shook her head, still confused, and headed up to bed.

As she curled up in a ball underneath her blankets, she wondered if the dream she had the night before would continue, and show her some clarity.


	6. 3R

The next few weeks went by well. Rather boring, but well. At any rate, Ren preferred things calm and smooth at the moment. It was nice to settle down after all of the confusion the twins went through before transferring schools. Layla was becoming fast friends with Skye, which pleased Ren, she always liked to see her little sister reacting with other people aside from her. She felt that sometimes, even though they did need each other, it was always nice to see some fresh faces and meet new people. Ren liked Skye too, but it took longer for her to warm up to people sometimes. They didn't seem to have as much in common, therefore Ren generally didn't talk to Skye as much as Layla did.

Within due time, the first match of Quidditch was drawing closer. This was very exciting to Ren, who was a pretty big fan; they didn't play Quidditch at her old school. Which was why she didn't try out for the school team; she had never actually played herself. The game wasn't quite as popular in France as it was in Britain. There were about 14 professional teams in Britain and Ireland; whereas there were only a few in France. The Quiberon Quafflepunchers being Ren's favorite. She always got a kick out of their mentality, always flaunting themselves about in their bright pink robes. Though Gryffindor wasn't playing in this particular match, Ren was still very eager to go to a game. She had never been to an actual game before, and would only keep up with the teams through the newspapers.

Gryffindor was scheduled to play in the next match, versus Hufflepuff, meaning this game was Slytherin versus Ravenclaw. In all natural house rivalry, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were in support of Ravenclaw, leaving Slytherin to stand on their own.

"I sure hope Ravenclaw wins." Skye said, as the three walked across the dewy grass, making their way to the Quidditch field. "Slytherin is usually a very tough team, and it's rare that Ravenclaw wins." she explained.

"Looks like a nice day though." Ren said, not knowing what to say. She jerked her head up to the sky. It was surprisingly warm for the time of year, puffy clouds filled the sky, blocking out most of the sun's intense rays, but patches of light hit the earth here and there none the less.

Holding her hand up to shield the sun from her eyes, Ren glanced over to Layla, who was on the other side of Skye. She looked much less enthusiastic about the whole ordeal, but had agreed to come anyway. There was no point in staying in the Common Room all alone when everyone else would be out at the Quidditch Pitch. Mixing in with the rest of the crowd, Skye lead the two up a rickety old staircase. With every step it felt as though the stairs would collapse, but they didn't. Perhaps they were being held up by the means of magic. But that was anyone's guess. Reaching the top, Ren saw that they were at the peak of a tall wooden tower decorated in the crisp colors of Gryffindor. Masses of students were spread out on bleachers all the way around the pitch, all decorated in the appropriate house colors.

Ren didn't even notice how loud the crowd had gotten, nor the fact that the teams were on the field, until an eerie silence swept over the sea of students. Two small groups of students were huddled around the center of the pitch, doing the customary things before every game; the handshake between the two team captains, and reinforcement of rules. The crowd burst into cheers and applause once more as the teams mounted and pushed off the ground. The balls were released, and the game had begun.

Both Seekers darted off away from the rest of the players, soaring high above anyone else. This way they would be sure to spot the glint of gold they were trained to find and catch. Each Keeper made their way to the goal hoops as quickly as possible, and immediately became on guard for any and all Chasers attempting to score as they darted about playing keep-away with the Quaffle. No less than a second into the game and Slytherin had already scored. Ten to zero, Slytherin. Ren now saw what Skye had meant earlier. They really were a tough team. Ravenclaw made a short lived comeback; luckily they had a good Beater, who managed to hit a hard fast ball toward the Slytherin Keeper just as a Ravenclaw Chaser managed to reach the appropriate scoring area.

Ren was so intent she wasn't quite paying all the attention to the whereabouts of other players, at the moment she was zoned in on the Seekers, circling far overhead. It wasn't until Layla jerked her back and she heard a whistle of the wind go past her ear that she realized a Bludger had nearly hit her. Not only had she cut it close with the Bludger, but when Layla had jerked her back she had lost her balance and fell back into the person behind her; who still had their arm around her, as if expecting her to fall over again. Spinning around Ren looked to see who her rescuer was to see the red haired girl

"You ok?" the girl asked.

"I... yeah..." Ren said, still staring at the girl, not making any movement to get out of her grasp. Words had lost her. "Caught off guard." she said almost in a trance. Releasing her, the red haired girl looked down at her and smiled, resuming her game face and cheering.

Twenty minutes later and the outlook for Ravenclaw was looking grim. The score was 170 to 30, Slytherin. The only way they could possibly manage to win, would be to capture the golden Snitch, however, nothing had been seen of the Snitch since the balls were released a long twenty minutes ago.

Right on cue, there it was. The Ravenclaw Seeker was trying desperately to keep up with it, but his chase was cut short by a speeding Bludger. This lead to the Slytherin Seeker catching up and finishing where the Ravenclaw Seeker left off. Victory for Slytherin. 320 to 30.

"Ren… Are you sure you're ok?" Layla asked, as they followed the rest of the disappointed Ravenclaw supporters. "You seem a little out of it."

"I'm fine." Ren responded, her mind lingering on the red haired girl. There was something about her smile that Ren liked. She didn't feel fine however. She felt a little weak, and her hands were shaking. Her stomach was beginning to feel upset, and something just didn't feel right.

"You sure as hell don't look fine. Look at how pale you look, the color is drained right out of you."

"Thanks mom." Ren snapped, not in the mood for her younger sister to baby her.

"She is right you know." Another voice said from behind them. "You do look rather pale." Turning around, Ren saw the red haired girl walking closely behind them, obviously walking separate from her friends. Instead of saying anything to her, Ren arched an eyebrow and slowed down slightly to allow her to catch up to them. "It's Ren, right?"

Ren nodded, feeling even more sick, but not wanting to admit a weakness she continued her dispute with Layla. "I really am fine Layla; just a little tired is all."

"If you say so." Layla responded, not seeming to agree.

"It really isn't that big of a deal if you want to visit Madame Pomfrey." Skye said, "She'll just give you a quick potion and you'll be on your way."

"How many times must I say it?" Ren said getting angry "I'm fine." With that she quickened her pace, walking back to the castle a lone. It wasn't like she was angry with her sister. It was more that she was angry for not being able to think. There was something lingering in the back of her mind, and she wasn't sure what it was, but wanted to find out what exactly it was. That was one bad thing about going to school at a boarding school. There wasn't really any time to think. You were with people constantly, and rarely had time to be by yourself.

Without realizing it, Ren had managed to travel all the way back to the Gryffindor Common Room, but she didn't feel so pleased as she spewed out the password to the Fat Lady. Several other students were sitting in clots about the Common Room, so she decided to retire to her bed. Collapsing into a lump on her bed, she lazily pulled the curtains around her four poster and sighed, wondering why she felt so strange.

It wasn't until she woke to the sounds of a door slamming that Ren realized she had fallen asleep. Hoping they wouldn't disturb her, she closed her eyes once more only to let a tear trickle down her cheek. However, luck wasn't on her side and she felt cool air rush across her body as the curtains were drawn back from her bed.

"Thought you might want something to eat. I'm going to get some dinner." she heard Layla say stiffly. Ren sat up and brushed away her slow falling tears to face Layla.

"Ok." she said apathetically. "I guess I'll come too."

Layla looked at her sister's red face, full of suspicion, but she didn't say anything. Instead she turned in her place and left the room. "I'll wait for you in the Common Room"

Ren sat idly on the bed for a moment before standing up to straighten up her clothes. She sauntered over to the bathroom where she splashed some cool water on her face, in an attempt to wake up. Quickening her pace, she stumbled down the stairs to meet Layla and Skye. They walked in silence, Ren didn't like talking much in the first place, and there was an odd awkwardness between the three of them after that afternoon. Once they reached the Great Hall, Layla and Skye relaxed, but Ren didn't. She looked around the table and found the red haired girl.

"You know Ren, Audrey seemed kind of concerned with you after the match." Skye said suddenly.

"Who?"

"The one who caught you." Ren chocked on the piece of chicken she had been eating and started to cough.

"Oh..." She said weakly. "Yeah..."

"Ren is there something you want to tell me?" Layla asked sharply, noting Ren's wandering eyes.

"I... er... I guess- not." Layla didn't seem convinced, but dropped the topic, much to the relief of Ren.

After supper Ren retired once more to her bed. This time not falling asleep, but thinking. Her mind wandered from trying to mend things with Layla, to how deep down she really did miss it in France. She wondered how Layla must feel being apart from the boy she was so attached to, to how she was jealous that she couldn't love anyone like that.

Getting bored, and not wanting to become even more emotional, she finally drew back the curtains to her bed and shuffled out to the Common Room. Standing at the top of the stairs, she glanced around the room, looking for Layla. Quickly locating her, she strode over to where she and Skye sat, taking a seat on the floor across from Layla. "Hey." she said, trying to be happy. Layla gave her a nod of acknowledgement, making Ren understand how she felt toward her. Skye gave her a nonchalant wave, seeming slightly awkward at Ren's presence.

"Hi." said another voice. Looking over to the other side of Layla, Ren located the body it came from. The red haired girl. "It's Ren right?"

"Yeah..." Ren said wondering why she was there, and not with her friends. Ren didn't even know her name, why would she be with them?

"Audrey." she said, seeming to read Ren's mind.

The rest of the evening seemed rather pleasant. Though there was a bit of tension between the twins, Ren ignored it; she pushed it into the back of her mind and focused on the present. She'd deal with Layla later.

"What's with you?" Layla asked demandingly once out of earshot of anyone. The twins decided to retire to bed, Audrey had long since departed, and Skye had gone to talk to her other friends.

"What do you mean?" Ren replied, trying to cover up her emotions as they entered the dormitory.

"You know very well what." Layla said, fishing around in her trunk for her night clothes. "You've been really weird." Ren couldn't think of anything to say. She sat idly on her bed, halfway through taking off her shoe.

"I don't know." she said, being sincere.

"You have to know, you can't not know what's on your mind."

"Well, I do know, but..." Ren trailed off. She knew very well what was on her mind, but she didn't feel at liberty to discuss it with Layla. Even if she did, she couldn't put into words what she felt. She just felt.

"You've always been able to tell me whatever it is before." Layla said, pressing on. "Why not now?"

"I told you! I don't know!" Ren said desperately. "I don't know why I'm feeling like I do, and if I could, I can't describe how I feel."

Layla looked up at her sister, half way through changing, and looked at Ren with a different expression than before. Ren looked away, feeling awkward with her sister staring at her. "I guess I didn't know it was so... difficult." Layla said.

Ren said nothing for a while, then finished taking off her shoes and uniform. Crawling into bed, she felt bad for how she had been leaving Layla in the dark and had been so irritable. She sighed, drawing the curtains around her bed and settling in for the night.

"Bonne nuit." Ren mumbled pulling the covers over her head.


	7. 3L

A few weeks had passed without anything too exciting happening. Layla was getting to know the castle and grounds quite well, and had become a favorite of the librarian, Madame Pince. Skye and her had become fast friends, but Ren remained rather distant.

One day in the middle of November, Layla sensed an odd excitement in the Great Hall when they went down for breakfast. For a moment, she was confused; until she remembered that the first Quidditch match of the year, Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff, was scheduled for later that morning. It had been all that Ren had talked about for the past week. Though her sister was a huge fan of the sport- her favorite team being one of the few French teams in existence, the Quiberon Quafflepunchers- Layla had never really cared for Quidditch. Nevertheless, she allowed herself to be talked into going to watch the game.

"I sure hope Ravenclaw wins. Slytherin is usually a very tough team, and it's rare that Ravenclaw wins," Skye said as they walked towards the pitch.

"Looks like a nice day, though," Ren said awkwardly.

Despite the fact that it was autumn in England, it was warm, with puffy clouds decorating the sky and blocking out most of the sun's rays.

Joining in with the crowd that had been ahead of them, the twins followed Skye up a crooked staircase. Layla was afraid that the stairs would crumble and collapse, but they made it safely to the top. Looking around, a sea of blue and bronze greeted her eyes, offset by about one-fourth of the student body decked out in green and silver. She resisted the urge to cover her ears and block out the noise of the crowd, but then a deafening silence swept across the pitch as two small groups of people came out from the locker rooms. The captains shook hands in the center of the center of the field, and the balls were released. A moment later, the players mounted their broomsticks and kicked off from the ground, and the game had begun.

The two Seekers soared up above the other players and instantly began to circle, watching like hawks for the glint of gold that was the Snitch. The Keepers both flew to their goal hoops, but it didn't do Ravenclaw any good; a few seconds after the game had begun, one of the Slytherin Chasers scored. Ravenclaw managed to score a few times before the Slytherins began to dominate the game again. Layla watched the game, feeling rather bored. Suddenly, she noticed a Bludger about to hurtle past the tower that they were sitting at the top of. She stepped back, then realized that Ren hadn't seen it and pulled her back, a little more forcefully than she had intended to in her haste. Ren fell back into the person behind her as the Bludger whistled past them.

Layla turned around to help her sister up, opening her mouth to apologize, but froze. The girl who had caught her sister was still holding her, and it was the girl that Ren had kept staring at since they had arrived at Hogwarts.

"You okay?" the girl- Layla thought her name was Audrey, but wasn't sure- asked.

"I… yeah… caught off guard," Ren stammered, almost as if she was in a trance. Audrey let go of her and turned her attention back to the game, but Ren seemed dazed as she did the same.

Five minutes later, Layla was ready to scream from boredom and suffocate from lack of air. She wasn't sure if it was the altitude or the amount of people around her, but she didn't care; she needed to walk around.

"Look out for Ren for me, will you?" she asked Skye. "I need to go for a walk."

"Okay," Skye said, turning back to the game.

Pushing her way through the crowd, she managed to make her way down to the bottom of the stairs, where it was considerably less crowded. She had only taken a few steps towards away from the staircase when someone ran into her.

"Ah, I'm sorry," the guy said, holding out his hand to help her up from where she had fallen.

Though she normally would have ignored the offered hand in her usual display of coldness and independence, Layla felt that she should let him help her, so she did. A second later, she was on her feet, though rather close to the guy she had bumped into. Her mouth dropped a fraction of an inch as she looked into his dark brown eyes; their depth was astonishing, she felt herself getting lost in them, and quickly averted her eyes, now looking at his overall appearance. Short hair that was almost black held the smallest amount of gel, and his skin was a slight tan, that reminded her somewhat of Professor Daniels. Realizing that she was staring, Layla bit her lip as her face flushed slightly from embarrassment.

"Désolée… je suis tellement stupide…" she muttered, unknowingly reverting to French.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. And you shouldn't call yourself stupid, because I doubt that you are," he said with a grin. "I'm James, by the way. James Karn. Comment tu t'appelles?"

"Je m'appelle Layla Sorge. Tu parles français?" she replied, her face lighting up.

"Un peu. Je préfère l'espagnol. Tu le parles?"

"Un peu," she said with a small smile. "I wondered where you got your accent. You speak English without much of one, but when you speak French, you have such a strong Spanish accent."

"Yeah, I need to work on that… so, what did I miss of the match? I was in the library, didn't realize how late it had gotten."

"You haven't missed much. It was 150-30, Slytherin winning, when I left."

"Damn," James said. "My house never wins Quidditch games, it's rather pathetic."

"Your team might catch the- oh, what is it called- the little golden ball."

"The Snitch?" he asked, stifling a laugh. "I doubt it, the Slytherin Seeker is really good, and our good one graduated last year."

"Sorry, I don't know anything about Quidditch," Layla said, blushing slightly again. "My sister tried to explain it to me a million times, it just never sinks in. I can't even ride a broom properly."

"I'll teach you some time, if you want," James volunteered. "I'm sorry, but I have to go, though… I promised my friend I'd meet him here, and the game could end at any second."

"Oh, right, sorry. I'll see you around sometime?"

"Bien sûr," he said with a smile, before he turned and walked towards a different set of stairs. Layla watched him until he disappeared in the crowd, and shivered. It felt as if her entire body was tingling on the inside, and at the same time, it felt as if there were chains holding down her heart, which so desperately wanted to leap with joy, but couldn't because of the iron weight. She was floating on air, and both loved and hated the feeling. Thoroughly confused, she headed back up to where Skye and Ren were absorbed in the game, and resumed her seat between them.

Two minutes later, the score was still 170-30, Slytherin in the lead, just as it had been when she had first returned to the stands. Almost every student in attendance seemed to gasp at the same time, as the two Seekers both hurtled towards the ground. The blue blur, signaling the Ravenclaw Seeker, was in the lead until one of the Slytherin Beaters aimed a Bludger at him. He swerved to avoid getting hit, giving the green blur behind him just enough time to fly past and grab the Snitch. Just like that, the game was over, and Slytherin had won, 320-30.

"Ren, are you sure you're okay? You seem a little out of it," Layla asked her sister as they walked back towards the castle.

"I'm fine," Ren said, as if in a trance.

"You sure as hell don't look fine. Look at how pale you look, the color is drained right out of you," Layla said. Ren's hands were shaking slightly, and though her sister was naturally very pale, she seemed almost translucent.

"Thanks, Mom," Ren snapped at her, and Layla winced.

"She is right, you know. You do look rather pale," a voice said from behind her. Layla turned and glared at Audrey, who had been walking a little ways behind them, and- as Layla thought angrily- eavesdropping. Ren raised an eyebrow and slowed down a little, allowing Audrey to catch up. "It's Ren, right?"

Ren nodded, and turned back to her sister. "I really am fine, Layla; just a little tired is all."

"If you say so," Layla said rather bitterly.

"It really isn't that big of a deal if you want to visit Madame Pomfrey. She'll just give you a quick potion and you'll be on your way," Skye said, breaking the silence she had maintained since leaving the Quidditch Pitch.

"How many times must I say it? I'm fine," Ren said angrily, storming up to the castle alone. Layla blinked quickly, trying to hold back the tears she could feel ready to spill from her eyes. She knew that her sister wasn't telling her something, and she was so used to always talking about everything that she felt left out and a little hurt now that her sister was keeping secrets from her.

"Would you hate me if I asked to be alone for a little while? I need to think," Layla asked softly.

"It's okay, don't worry about it. And don't worry too much about Ren; I'm sure she just needs to think alone for a bit, too, before she'll come around and open up," Skye reassured her.

"Thank you," Layla said, before sprinting back towards the lake. Since arriving in England, she hadn't gotten a chance to run; this was a great release for her. When she reached the lake, she slowed her pace and began to jog around the entire body of water, her mind racing faster than her legs. She thought about her sister's reactions to Audrey, and the strange feelings James caused to appear in her. Once she had reached the area where she had first began to circle the lake, she collapsed on a large, flat rock underneath a tree, and kicked her bare feet gently in the water.

Her mind wandered back to the boyfriend she had in France. They had been in love; or at least, she thought they had been. Jeff and Layla had been dating for three years when she found out that he had been sleeping with an old friend of hers. It had been especially painful because he had constantly told her that he loved her in the sweetest ways possible, and she was finally ready to have sex with him. He had been trying to convince her for the past year of their relationship, and the only thing that kept her from instantly saying 'yes' was her morals. After he had cheated on her, she really began to look at everything in a new light. Jeff had never kept a single promise he had made to her, and he lied to her often. Layla wondered whether he had only said he loved her because he wanted to sleep with her, or if he had actually meant it. About a week after they had messily broken up, he had tried to convince her to take him back, claiming that he loved her and had made a mistake. And then there was the blood…

Layla shook her head, trying to rid herself of the memories, though she knew that the last encounter that she had ever had with Jeff, two days before she left for England, would haunt her forever. Tears slid slowly down her cheeks, falling onto her pale arm.

At the same time, she felt guilty, because she hadn't told her sister anything about what had happened with Jeff yet, and she was getting upset because Ren wasn't telling her about what Layla suspected to be a crush. She also felt bad because she wondered if maybe she was just jealous of Audrey, and the thought of having to share her sister with someone else. Of course, Ren could be feeling the same way about Skye, which could explain why she didn't like her very much. Layla shook her head, now confused.

Glancing around, Layla realized that the sky was beginning to get darker, and nobody was around. Suddenly having the urge to swim, she stripped down to her black sports bra and underwear, and dove gracefully into the dark water. She treaded water for a little while, before her heightened senses heard footsteps coming towards her from the castle. Layla sat on a small rock in the water beside the rock that her clothes were on; if she got up to put her robes on, her pale skin would be like a beacon in the night, attracting attention to her almost naked body.

A tall figure sat on the rock beside her clothes, and kicked his bare feet in the water much like she had about thirty minutes ago. For a moment, there was silence, until the person said, "Est-ce que tu nages souvent la nuit?"

"Hello to you, too," Layla said, sighing with relief when she heard the familiar language spoken with a Spanish accent.

"You didn't answer my question," James pointed out.

"No, I don't do this often… I needed to think."

"Anything I can help you with? You sound distressed."

"I guess I probably am. But unless you can change the past, and emotions, I don't think you can help me right now. Thank you for offering, though," Layla said.

"Anytime. So, can I convince you to come with me back inside, or at least get out of the water and dry off? I don't want you to get sick," James said, his dark eyes showing his concern.

Layla smiled shyly at him. "Yeah, I guess you're right… not a good idea to swim at night in autumn, is it?"

James made a noise of agreement as Layla pulled herself out of the lake, water streaming off of her smooth skin. His jaw dropped slightly as he realized what she was wearing, and tried not to stare as she picked up her clothes. The moonlight illuminated her pale skin, sharply contrasted with her small black undergarments and long raven hair.

"I guess it wouldn't make much sense to put dry clothes over wet ones…" Layla muttered, sighing as she realized what she'd have to do. "Turn around, Mr. Karn, if you'd be so kind."

Confused, James obeyed; it wasn't until he heard wet cloth hit the rock a few feet behind him that he realized what was going on. A few seconds later, Layla sat beside him, fully dressed, with the exception of her bra and underwear which she held in her hands. James looked shocked, with the knowledge that the girl beside him had been naked, and so close to him, only a few minutes before.

"It'll probably be time for dinner soon, if it isn't already," James said after a small, comfortable silence.

"Yeah… we should probably head back to the castle," Layla said dreamily, tearing her gaze away from the moon reflected in the water.

The two walked back to the school together, arguing playfully about whether French or Spanish was the better language. They parted in the Entrance Hall; James went into the Great Hall to find his friends and get food, and Layla headed up to Gryffindor Tower to shower and change.

After getting cleaned up and dressing in a tank top and sweatpants, which she planned on using as pajamas, she went down to the Common Room. Skye was glad to see her, as she was getting worried about her. Layla found out that Ren had gone straight to the dormitories after the Quidditch match, and got Skye to agree to wait until she had checked on her sister before going down to dinner.

Suddenly rather angry again and cursing mood swings, Layla entered the shared bedroom and slammed the door behind her. She stormed over to her sister's bed, but relaxed a bit as she pulled the curtains open.

"Thought you might want something to eat; I'm going to get some dinner," she said to Ren, noticing sadly that her twin had been crying.

"Okay. I guess I'll come, too," Ren said lifelessly.

"I'll wait for you in the Common Room," she said softly, leaving the room.

The Common Room was strangely empty, since almost everyone had already left for dinner, so Layla sat in front of the fire, memorized by the flames. A few minutes later, Ren came down and the three left for the Great Hall. An awkward silence settled between them as they walked, and Layla wished almost longingly to be with James, where at least if there were any silences, they were comfortable.

When they reached the Great Hall, Layla instantly searched for James, and smiled to herself when she saw him talking with a group of guys at the Ravenclaw table. He looked happy, and for some reason, that made Layla feel wonderful. Ren's eyes searched for Audrey, who was sitting in the middle of the Gryffindor table with a few other girls. The three sat near the end of the table, and both Skye and Layla watch Ren as she served herself some chicken; her eyes had wandered back towards Audrey.

"You know, Ren, Audrey seemed kind of concerned with you after the match," Skye said, breaking the silence that had still remained between them.

"Who?" Ren asked, and Layla found it very amusing that Ren didn't even know the name of the girl she had been staring at for weeks.

"The one who caught you," Skye answered, and Ren immediately choked on the piece of chicken she had been in the process of eating.

"Oh… yeah…" Ren said, still coughing slightly.

"Ren, is there something you want to tell me?" Layla asked sharply as her sister's eyes glanced down the Gryffindor Table again. She felt rather hypocritical, not telling her sister about Jeff _or _James, yet still prying into her sister's life, but she couldn't help it.

"I… er… I guess not…" Ren said guiltily, as if there was something she wanted to tell her sister but couldn't. Layla sighed, but didn't try to get her sister to open up.

After dinner, which was another silent affair in which Layla tried very hard not to look over at the Ravenclaw table- she only did twice, and was very proud of herself for that- the three girls headed back up to Gryffindor Tower. Ren instantly went up to the dormitories, while Skye and Layla sat at a table in the corner of the room and began their Potions essay. Just after Layla had finished- Skye was putting the finishing touches on hers- Ren came back downstairs and joined them.

"Hey," she said, sitting on the floor beside them. Her voice sounded as if she was trying to force herself to sound more cheerful than she really was.

Layla nodded stiffly at her twin, and Skye waved, an awkward smile on her face.

"Hi. It's Ren, right?" Audrey's voice suddenly appeared from beside Layla. She felt the familiar and uncomfortable protectiveness of her older sister flare up inside her again, but bit her tongue to prevent from speaking. Her canine grazed the side of her tongue accidentally, leaving a small cut. The spell keeping her eyes blue faded a bit, showing a little more of their natural red as she tasted the coppery blood.

"Yeah…" Ren said, looking somewhat confused.

"Audrey," she responded to the silent question.

The next few hours were tense, nobody talking much. When the twins finally retired up to bed, alone since Skye remained behind a little while longer, Layla took the chance to have a talk with her sister.

"What's with you?" Layla asked, sounding harsher than she had intended.

"What do you mean?"

"You know very well what. You've been really weird," Layla said, looking for her pajamas in her trunk.

"I don't know," Ren said, sitting frozen on her bed, a shoe in her hand.

"You have to know; you can't not know what's on your mind." Layla immediately wished she hadn't said that, as she knew that such a thing _was _possible, having experienced it herself.

"Well, I do know, but…"

"You've always been able to tell me whatever it is before. Why not now?" Layla felt like a hypocrite again, and fell silent.

"I told you! I don't know! I don't know why I'm feeling like I do, and if I could, I can't describe how I feel."

Layla met her sister's eyes, realizing that maybe her sister was more like her than she had thought. "I guess I didn't know it was so… difficult."

Ren didn't reply, merely finished changing and crawled into bed. She sighed, and mumbled, "Bonne nuit."

"Bonne nuit, ma soeur…" Layla whispered, curling herself into a ball. She relaxed against her pillow, and wondered if the dream that she had been having since arriving at Hogwarts, where she fell into nothingness, would come again. Maybe this time, it would go on longer, and would show her what happened next. She had a feeling that it was a sign of some sort. Her eyes slowly grew heavy, and the dream began.


	8. 4R

Within a few weeks of the Quidditch Match, the first trip to Hogsmeade was announced. Skye was going with her friends, as was Audrey and the rest of Hogwarts. However, the twins were forced to stay behind. They hadn't known about the village trips, much less about needing parental consent to travel there on the designated days. Aside from the First and Second Years, they were pretty much the only ones not going.

Ren was disappointed to be spending a lone Saturday while everyone else was at Hogsmeade, especially Audrey, who Ren was becoming fast friends with. It left a bitter feeling knowing Audrey would be gone having fun while Ren and Layla were cooped up in the castle. It was almost as if time without Audrey was lackluster and pointless.

After breakfast that Saturday morning, Ren lingered around the Entrance Hall, amidst the mob of students. Everyone was bundled up against the bitter cold, scarves and hats were everywhere, making it more difficult to be on the lookout for familiar faces. Layla was on the other side of the hall, Ren assumed she was talking to Skye, so she was on her own looking for Audrey.

Parting her way through students, Ren finally caught a glimpse of Audrey. "Hey." she said, appearing at her side.

"I thought you said you couldn't go?" Audrey asked, turning away from her friend. A glint of mischievousness seen in her eyes, making Ren grin.

"I can't go, but I figured I'd see you off." Ren replied, her mood dropping at the said words.

"Oh, I see."

Ren suddenly felt a wave of stupidity wash over her, and her mind went blank. She stood staring nervously at the floor, twisting her fingers together behind her back.

Filch, the caretaker at Hogwarts, pushed through the masses of students, his greasy head bobbing with each step. "Outta my way." He barked at a group of Third Years.

"I feel sort of bad leaving you behind." Audrey said, breaking the silence between the two. By this time, Filch had made his way to the doors and was letting the first few students pass through.

"Don't." Ren said, feeling even more discomfort. "Go and have fun. I'll see you when you get back at supper, tell me about it then."

"Okay..." Audrey said softly "Bye." Slowly turning around as she gave a slight wave good bye. Ren watched as she squeezed past a few Fourth Years to catch back up with her other friends, leaving Ren completely alone.

"What now?" Layla said from behind Ren.

"Dunno." Ren said, facing her sister. "I guess I was going to go to the Library. There was something I had wanted to check out, want to come?"

"I might as well." Layla shrugged.

Upon entering the Library, Ren left Layla and headed for the Defense Against the Dark Arts branch. She quickly found the book she had mentioned before, and checked out, thumbing through it as she waited for Layla to reappear. "Did you not find a book?" Ren asked, when Layla returned.

"Si, j'en ai trouvé, mais c'est dans le section restreint," Layla said, obviously disgruntled.

"Well, let's go then." Ren said, standing up and trudging to the door.

"Where are you going?" Layla asked, looking at her sister who had stopped mid-step up the stairs at these words. "It's lunch time."

"I'll be right there... I just want to drop this book off in the dormitory first." Ren said looking over her shoulder to Layla, continuing up the stairs. Layla remained on spot for a moment, as her sister sped up the stairs, before turning a half circle and heading down the stairs toward the smells of freshly cooked food.

Lunch was quiet and empty. The Great Hall felt gloomy and drafty with the lack of the usual mass. It was unnerving almost. Ren thought of all the recent deaths that had been going on, how many more innocent people were to die, and whether or not Hogwarts would stay running. With the rise of this so-called "Lord Voldemort" everything was becoming more and more difficult as well as tense. Many students had already been pulled out of school, how many more would go? At the moment, they were safe at Hogwarts, and that's all that concerned Ren.

Retreating to her bed after lunch, Ren spent most of the day reading. Layla seemed a lot more restless than Ren. Ren wasn't sure why her sister was so fidgety that day, normally it was the other way around, but she didn't ask questions. Ren was without energy, and remained lying on her bed, trying to read through the inquiries of her sister on various topics.

"What on Earth are you reading?" Layla asked, bouncing slightly on the bed. "It's rare you ever find a book good enough that even you want to read it for hours on end."

"It's not that big of a deal." Ren said in a rather bland tone of voice. "I'm bored." Laying the book down on her stomach, she allowed her eyes to adjust, looking over to her sister. Layla was lying on her stomach facing Ren, her torso propped up on her elbows. There was a curious look in her eye, but Ren dismissed it, not wanting to talk, and continued to read.

"They should be back soon." Layla said, changing the subject. "It's almost supper time." It took Ren a moment to process this. She frowned slightly, staring blankly at the pages of her book.

"I'm... not hungry." Ren replied slowly.

"You may as well come down to see everyone anyway, even if you won't eat. You've been moping around all day; I would have thought you'd have jumped at the chance to see everyone again."

"I can assure you I'm not moping." Ren said, rather frustrated.

"Right. I'm going down to the Great Hall." Layla said jumping off the bed. She looked inquisitively at Ren and her book, it looked as though she was to ask another question but she remained silent. Leaving Ren to her book, she turned a heel and left the dormitory quickly and quietly.

Realizing how alone she was, Ren sat up from her lax position, staring at the door half expecting Layla to come back in. However, she didn't, Ren was on her own now. She wondered why she was feeling so bitter toward everything at the moment and why she was feeling so sickly. She picked up her book with a shaking hand, stowing it under her pillow before tumbling back onto her bed, only moving once more to violently pull the red velvet curtains around her bed. She took in a deep breath, relieving the air in her chest heavily. For many confusing reasons, she felt like crying. She was so incredibly jealous of all the students getting to have fun at Hogsmeade. But after a while of thinking, she figured out that it wasn't that she particularly wanted to go to Hogsmeade, it was that she wanted to go with Audrey. She wondered if Audrey had thought of her at all, or if she had been shoved in the back of her mind. But however Audrey felt, Ren still grieved that she wasn't with her. There was something about Audrey that made everything fun, and Ren wasn't sure why exactly, but there was some sort of bond she felt with Audrey. There was so much they had in common, and the past couple of weeks Ren had become so attached to Audrey she was beginning to think of her like a sister. With one final sigh, and a flash of one last thought of Audrey, Ren slowly fell into a restless sleep.

"Wake up sleepy head." Layla exclaimed, jerking back the curtains from around Ren's bed. "You've been asleep forever. It's time to get up."

Ren slowly lifter her heavy eye lids, taking a look around the room and looking to Layla. "What time is it?" She groaned, slowly sitting up.

"Almost noon." Layla replied, looking to Ren with slight amusement. "You've missed supper and breakfast; I suggest you come down for some lunch unless you want to starve."

"Ah..." Ren wasn't sure what to say, and she wasn't even sure if she was hungry. Her stomach was feeling rather off, not quite sick, more like a she was in a state of nervousness. "Yeah... I'll be down in a minute." She said yawning and throwing her legs around and off the edge of the bed.

Layla sank into her bed as she waited on Ren, who was picking through her trunk for fresh clothes. "You fell asleep in your clothes?"

"Yeah..." Ren said, a little annoyed. "It's not like I meant to. I just did." She peeled off her wrinkled shirt, casting it aside, and pulled on a new one. Layla gave a nod of acknowledgment, seeming unsure of what to say.

The two made no conversation from then all the way to the Great Hall. It wasn't until they were close enough to smell the food wafting through the air that either of them said anything. "Is it just me, or is it really cold in here?" Ren asked, shivering slightly.

"It's you." Layla answered, casting Ren a look of both concern and slight annoyance. "It's probably just that you've been asleep for so long up in the warm tower."

Ren shrugged, not thinking the same way. Her skin was covered with goose bumps, despite the layers she was wearing. Normal Hogwarts wear this time of year was more than warm enough, but Ren felt cold in a sick way. The two sat down together towards the far end of the hall, where the least students appeared to be sitting. Most of the food had already disappeared, but there was still enough left, but as Ren took a look at all of the foods she felt even sicker. Not wanting to worry Layla, she lead on that she was fine, filling her plate with the usual amount. After pushing her food around the plate for a good minute, Ren felt incredibly weak. "I really don't feel good." she said, pushing her plate away and pressing her forehead into her hands. "Like I'm going to throw up."

"Drink." Layla said to her, unclipping the flask on her waist and placing it in front of Ren. Ren removed her fingers from covering her eyes and peered at the cheap metal container in front of her. She hesitated before taking it into a shaking hand and slowly unscrewing the cap. Taking a gulp, she let the contents slide down her throat with a warming sensation. She felt some strength come back to her. However, her stomach was still upset. Thrusting Layla's flask back into her direction, Ren furrowed her brow in anxiety. The smells of the food was doing her upset stomach no justice, and she was soon shaking again. Letting one of her hands slide over her stomach in hopes of comfort, she sighed a heavy sigh wondering where Audrey was.

"I'm going back to the Common Room." Ren said weakly, covering up her wanting to see Audrey, after debating the topic with herself. Slowly rising, she pushed back the bench with the backs of her legs and ambled off.

Crawling through the portrait hole, Ren observed every inch of the Common Room. Her eyes fell on Audrey, who was sitting by the stair case reading. She seemed to feel Ren looking at her, looking up expectantly at her. Ren gave her a weak grin, dragging her feet over to her.

"I've been wondering where you were." Audrey said when Ren was within earshot.

"Not feeling too well. I was going to go to bed." Ren said slowly, pausing beside Audrey to hold a slight conversation.

"You do look pale..." Audrey noted, folding her book before standing up to become level with Ren. She brushed stray hairs out of Ren's face, pressing the back of her hand to Ren's forehead. The feeling of her hands created a shiver up Ren's spine, she quavered at the touch of Audrey, and a fresh wave of nausea overcame her. "You're running a fever." Absentmindedly, Ren reached up to Audrey's hand, taking it into her own, slowly pulling it down. She froze for a moment, their hands in midair, staring into Audrey's concerned green eyes. "Your hands are like ice." Ren still said nothing, glancing down to see her fingers lace together with Audrey's, before looking back into her eyes.

Her mind still in the slowed down fuzz as it had been there holding Audrey's hand, Ren didn't quite realize what had just happened until she was kicking off her shoes and crawling into bed.


	9. 4L

Another few weeks passed, unnaturally fast, or so it seemed to Layla. After meeting James, she started looking for him everywhere; in the halls, at the library, in the Great Hall. The worst part was that she didn't even notice she was doing it; and she had no intention of stopping. It was as if James was a drug, and she was addicted; when she didn't see him, she felt disorientated, desperate. She made excuses to herself, since no one else knew, and went to classes traveling less direct routes, just to walk past him. She was obsessed, and she hated herself for it, but she loved the feeling.

Layla was so preoccupied that she didn't even notice the excitement that all of the other students tried to suppress. Until, suddenly, her boring, daily routine was interrupted by a trip to Hogsmeade. This was even worse because all of the students except first and second years would be going; all of them, except Layla and Ren. They hadn't known about the necessary parental permission, not that they would have been able to get it, anyways, as Layla unsuccessfully tried to explain to Professor McGonagall.

So, that Saturday morning after breakfast, a crowd of students wrapped in coats, hats, and gloves waited in the Entrance Hall as their forms were checked by Filch. Layla was a bit intimidated by the sea of black before her, but nevertheless, decided to try to find James. Hopefully, they'd be able to have a small conversation, which would have to give her enough cheerfulness to last throughout the entire day. Spotting a familiar group of tall Ravenclaw guys, Layla darted over, relieved to find James with them.

"Hey," she said, grinning at him as she stepped beside him.

"Hey," he said, and Layla felt like she was floating as he smiled at her. "Did you talk McGonagall into letting you come?"

"Ah, no… just figured I'd come to see you off."

"Damn, that sucks… you could always hide under my cloak," he suggested, winking at her and giving her the flirtatious smile that she loved.

"Thanks for the offer, but I think it'd be safer to stay here," Layla said, her lips curling into a smile to match his.

"I'll see you when I get back then, okay?" he asked as he got caught in the crowd, pulled towards the door and away from her.

"Yeah… see you then."

Layla watched him until he was out of the large oak doors, and then went to find her sister. She felt empty, again, since her heart was walking towards Hogsmeade, away from the rest of her. Deciding that it'd be better to spend a day with her sister than moping around by herself, Layla went in search of Ren. She found her twin staring after Audrey's retreating back, a sad look on her face.

"What now?" Layla asked.

"Dunno… I guess I was going to go to the Library. There was something I had wanted to check out; want to come?" Ren suggested, turning to face her sister.

"I might as well," Layla agreed with a shrug.

The two walked in silence to the library; once there, Ren wandered off to the Defense Against the Dark Arts section, while Layla wandered over to the very small foreign languages section. Over the past few weeks, after James had introduced her to this little collection, she had fallen in love with it. There were books teaching foreign languages, as well as books written entirely in another language. Her favorite part of it all was that she could point out something in a just about any of the books, no matter what language it was, and James would say it aloud so she could hear the pronunciation.

Layla skimmed through the book she had finished the last time she was in the library. It was a French romance novel about vampires, and she loved it. Curious to know if there might be a sequel, she searched the back of the book. In the section where the author wrote all the sources she had used to get information, there was only one book listed. Even more curious than before, she went to Madame Pince, the librarian, and asked if they had that book. Normally, the librarian would smile and help her find it; this time, though, she gave Layla a startled look and asked why she ever want such a thing.

"I saw it mentioned in another book," Layla explained.

"What book would mention it? It has some very foul things in it. And I'm sorry, my dear, if you're interested in it, I would like to help you; but it's in the Restricted Section, you'd need a note from a teacher."

Layla waited for Ren to finish at a nearby table, and joined her at the checkout once she appeared.

"Did you not find a book?" Ren asked as she drew near.

"Si, j'en ai trouvé, mais c'est dans le section restreint," Layla muttered angrily.

"Well, let's go then."

Ren walked out of the library, Layla jogging to catch up to her.

"Where are you going? It's lunch time," Layla reminded her sister, and Ren paused.

"I'll be right there… I just want to drop this book off in the dormitory first."

Layla stared at her twin's retreating back for a moment, and then turned and headed to the Great Hall. She sat by herself at the end of the Gryffindor table, as far from the pack of cheerful younger students as she could get. The room was so much emptier than usual; most of the students were either at Hogsmeade, or had been taken out of school as "Lord Voldemort" and his followers continued their killing spree.

As she thought of all the students who had lost family members, Layla thought of her mother. She had never really known her father, but her mother had been there her entire life, had taught her to survive; and she had died, because of her. Layla buried her face in her hands and tried to not cry. The blood, and Jeff, and her mother; it was all her fault.

Loneliness swept over her, as she sat there, and she felt abandoned. James wasn't there, so she had no reason to smile; Ren and Skye weren't there, so she had no reason to pretend to be happy. Her heart ached; she had never gotten a chance to properly mourn for her mother. Right after finding out about the death, Ren and Layla had left France, and then they had entered a new school and had to worry about classes and homework.

So preoccupied with her thoughts, Layla didn't even notice her sister sit beside her and pick up a sandwich from a platter in front of them. The two sat in silence as Ren ate; neither of them really grasped the fact that Layla hadn't touched any food. After lunch, the twins headed back to Gryffindor Tower. Ren headed up the dormitory, as usual; but Layla felt like being alone. If she went upstairs, she'd be with her sister; if she stayed in the Common Room, she'd be surrounded by the First and Second Years. A frustrated sigh escaped her lips and she stomped out of the room.

Her feet just began walking; Layla didn't really care where she would end up. Her thoughts drifted again to James, Skye, and Ren. Normally, she could tell her sister everything; but since their mother had died, she had been keeping a lot of very big secrets; secrets that were tearing her apart. She desperately wanted to open up and talk to someone, but didn't want to burden anyone with her problems. Layla had a bad feeling that sometime soon, she would end up breaking down and releasing everything all at once, on someone who didn't deserve to put up with her shit.

Frustrated, she suddenly began pacing in a corridor, debating in her head at first whether or not to go back to the Common Room and pretend to be happy for a few hours. Then, she began to think about her old room, back in France, and wished that she could be there. With a small pop, a door suddenly appeared in the wall beside her. Layla glanced quizzically at it; she was used to Hogwarts constantly throwing surprises at her.

Her pale hand grasped and twisted the silver doorknob cautiously, and gasped when it was pushed open to reveal an exact replica of her old bedroom. She stepped inside and closed the door softly behind her, staring around sadly.

The little of the dark blue walls that were visible looked black in the dim light emitted from the paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling. Most of the space on three of the walls was covered with posters of Muggle rock bands; a few large pictures of animals were scattered amongst those. The fourth wall was entirely covered with pictures of vampires and werewolves, with the exception of the bulletin board in the middle, which was cluttered with pictures of family and postcards that she had collected. The room was in the state of panic and disorder that she had left it in when she had quickly packed and left the country.

The drawers on her cheap wooden dresser were pulled out, clothes hanging out of some of them. Clothes lay in heaps on the floor, and pencils lay scattered on the desk from when she had knocked over a jar of them in her haste. Louis, her blue Fender Stratocaster, rested on her bed; she remembered how she had cried herself to sleep her first night in England, because she was so upset that she had left him behind.

She picked him up, her fingers sliding gently along the strings as she familiarized herself with the shape once more. Her fingers moved to the fifth fret of the guitar neck, and she began to play "Stairway to Heaven"; Led Zeppelin was one of her favorite bands, and her mother had always loved that song.

When she finished playing the song, Layla placed her guitar on the floor beside the bed, curled up in the mess of blankets, and cried herself to sleep.

A few hours later, she woke up, feeling very disoriented. For a brief moment, she forgot everything about England; she thought that she was home, in France, and everything was as it had been before her mother's death. Reality hit her like a punch in the face, and she bit her lip to prevent herself from crying again. As she left the room, she made sure to remember the tapestry of the dancing trolls that was across from the door; this would be her haven, her secret place, and she didn't want to forget about it. Twenty minutes later, she had managed to navigate her way back to Gryffindor Tower, and went up to the dormitory to check on her twin.

Ren was lying on her stomach, reading the book that she had gotten from the library earlier that day. From the surprised look that Ren shot her as she walked into the room, Layla knew that her sister hadn't even noticed her absence. As it was, Ren just continued reading. Layla lay down on her bed for about a minute, then became fidgety and began pacing around the room. A few minutes later, she pulled an old book out of her trunk and lay on her bed again; another few minutes, and she was pacing again, inquiring about Ren's book. The procedure went on for quite a few cycles, before Layla got fed up with it.

"What on Earth are you reading? It's rare you ever find a book good enough that even you want to read it for hours on end," Layla said, going over to bounce on her sister's bed, ignoring the aggravated look that Ren shot her.

"It's not that big of a deal. I'm bored," Ren replied, placing the book on her stomach and looking at her sister. Layla was lying on her stomach, head propped in her hands, looking at Ren with curiosity. A few seconds later, Ren picked up her book again and proceeded to ignore her twin.

"They should be back soon. It's almost supper time," Layla said, thinking suddenly of James.

"I'm… not hungry," Ren said after a slight pause.

"You may as well come down to see everyone anyway, even if you won't eat," Layla suggested. "You've been moping around all day; I would have thought you'd have jumped at the chance to see everyone again."

"I can assure you I'm not moping."

Ren sounded frustrated, so Layla decided to let her do her own thing.

"Right, I'm going down to the Great Hall," she said, hopping off the bed. She shot another questioning look at her sister, but said nothing and quickly left the room.

Layla went there, as she had said she would, but she felt very lonely again. The Hogsmeade students were beginning to appear, but for some reason, she was hoping that Skye wouldn't sit with her. Though Skye had been for best friend for the few months that she had been there so far, their recent conversations had been entirely centered on her, because Layla just couldn't find the words to say anything. The more time that passed, the less Layla began to care about what Skye was saying to her, and she had started to tune her out and daydream. At the same time, she hated herself for it; Skye had been her first friend here, had welcomed her here, and now Layla was being so ungrateful and apathetic towards her.

Though she desperately wanted to see James, she couldn't stand sitting there and hating herself any more, so after forcing herself to eat a little pasta- which she normally loved to eat- she decided to walk around the grounds. By this point, all of the students that had been at Hogsmeade had returned; Skye hadn't seen Layla when she came in, so she had sat down with some other friends.

The moon was almost full, and Layla stared at it, memorized, as her feet carried her to the Quidditch Pitch. The moisture caught on the dark grass shone with the light from the moon, giving it an odd yet beautiful look to it. With a sigh of contentment, she lay down on the grass in the middle of the field, staring up at the sky. It was probably after curfew, she knew, but the night was too calm for her to care. The sound of footsteps, muffled slightly by the damp grass, reached her ears, but she didn't move away. Secretly, she hoped that it was James, but she didn't know why he would be out this late.

"I always do seem to find you in odd places at night."

Layla barely suppressed a grin at James looked down at her. His face was partially covered in shadows, giving him the look of the mystery men that girls always seem to swoon over. Layla mentally shook herself, telling herself not to think like that, and tried not to get lost in his eyes. They were alone, and she didn't want to accidentally kiss him, because then he would definitely end up hating her; or so she thought.

"Are you stalking me or something?" Layla's eyes sparkled with a playful light.

"You know it," James replied, laughing. He lay down beside her on the grass, glancing at her quickly out of the corner of his eye, before looking up at the sky. "Thoughtful, again?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. Reliving the past… it really was my fault, you know. Ren doesn't know it; if she did, she would hate me. Oh, she would never forgive me…" Layla bit her tongue and closed her eyes, trying to keep the tears from falling out of her eyes.

"Whoa, what are you talking about? Ren could never hate you; the two of you are so close, and she's your sister, your twin. And though I have no idea what you're claiming is your fault, I'm sure it isn't," James said, his piercing gaze meeting hers when she opened her eyes. His arm went under her neck and pulled her body close to his, and he gave her a comforting hug. Layla's heart fluttered, though it hurt for a moment. She knew that he was only doing this as a friend; it meant nothing to him, though it meant everything to her. Still, she ignored that part of her mind and just relaxed in his arms.

"Thank you… thank you so much. For everything," she whispered. They lay in silence for a moment, just enjoying each other's presence. "Have you ever been dying to say so many things, but either just can't find the words or are too afraid to say it?"

"Yeah… and then sometimes you have so many feelings, that it's hard to know what to say," he said softly.

"Yeah… I don't know; it's just so confusing."

James gave her a gentle, reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry about it. And I'm sure whatever problems you're having with your sister will work out. I'll always be here for you to talk to."

"I know, thank you. I will tell you, I just… I need to tell my sister, first. She needs to know," Layla let out a breath that she didn't know she had been holding. "I just don't know how to tell her."

"Wake up, sleepy head," Layla said teasingly, pulling back the curtains around Ren's bed. "You've been asleep forever; it's time to get up."

"What time is it?" Ren groaned, slowing raising herself into a sitting position.

"Almost noon; you've missed supper and breakfast. I suggest you come down for some lunch unless you want to starve."

Layla thought about that statement for a moment. She had skipped lunch, had a small dinner, and a small breakfast; she was being rather hypocritical, again. She smiled to herself, though; for about the tenth time since she had woken up, she relived the long conversation that she had with James last night. They had talked about almost everything, and though most of the topics weren't very cheerful, the thought of the conversation still made her glow.

"Ah… yeah… I'll be down in a minute," Ren said, yawning loudly. She got up and began rummaging around in her trunk for some clean clothes.

Layla sat on her bed and watched her sister. It took her a moment to realize that Ren was still wearing the clothes that she had worn yesterday. She thought her sister might have just read for a while, and then gone to bed; apparently she had just fallen asleep unexpectedly.

"You fell asleep in your clothes?" she asked, not knowing why her mind was making such a big deal out of it. For a sickening moment, she wondered if Ren and her talked so little that this was what she was resorted to talking about with her sister.

"Yeah…" Ren said, sounding annoyed. "It's not like I meant to. I just did."

Ren pulled on a new shirt, and Layla nodded, feeling stupid. A few minutes later, when Ren was ready to go, they silently walked to the Great Hall together.

"Is it just me, or is it really cold in here?" Ren said as they entered the room. Layla stared at her, startled after such a long silence. Her sister shivered, and Layla grew worried again.

"It's you. It's probably just that you've been asleep for so long up in the warm tower," Layla replied, slightly annoyed that her sister had been almost hiding from her up in that stupid bed. Her mind chanted "hypocrite" and her, and she scowled, aggravated with herself.

The twins sat together at the far end of the hall, a bit reserved from the other Gryffindors, like they usually were. Most food had already disappeared, as lunch was drawing towards an end, but there was still a decent amount left. They both filled up their plates, though they also both cast the food a sickened look. Layla ate a little of it, but Ren just pushed it around on her plate.

"I really don't feel good… like I'm going to throw up," Ren said, pushing the plate of food away from her and putting her head in her hands.

"Drink," Layla ordered, handing her the flask that she usually kept clipped to her waist. Ren stared at it for a moment, before a shaking hand unscrewed the cap and she hesitantly took a gulp. She looked a bit better afterwards, thrusting the flask back into Layla's hands and letting a sigh escape her lips.

"I'm going back to the Common Room," Ren said weakly, getting up from the bench and slowly leaving the room.

Layla looked sadly after her, wishing that her sister would open up with her, and that she would get the courage to do the same. Her eyes looked across the Hall and met James' gaze. Her lips formed a weak smile, as if trying to reassure him that she was fine though she obviously wasn't. Glancing at her plate, which was still mostly full, she sighed and pushed her plate away, before getting up and leaving the room.

Rather than return to the Common Room and face her sister, she returned to the place where her old bedroom had appeared. She had asked James about that last night; she had wanted to know how her bedroom had suddenly appeared in the castle. He said it was called the Room of Requirements, and took the form of wherever the person wanted to be.

The rest of the afternoon, she spent cleaning up the mess that she had left her room in. She made a brief appearance at dinner, where James shot her another worried look, before heading back to Gryffindor Tower. After a quick shower, she crawled into bed, though it was still really early for her. She glanced sadly at her sister's closed off bed, before pulling the curtains shut around her own. That night, she cried herself to sleep, for what would be the first of many long days to end in such a fashion.


	10. 5R

Waking up with a start, Ren was disappointed to discover she had simply been dreaming. She always hated having nice dreams, then waking up to know they wouldn't ever happen. Rolling onto her belly, Ren sighed, trying to relive the dream that had just occurred. Shutting her eyes tight, she bit her lip. It was her and Audrey, alone. Not doing anything, just lying on the banks of the lake together. Absentmindedly staring at the moonlight sky, fingers intertwined.

Opening her eyes, Ren silently cursed herself for thinking like that. She felt stupid and unclean when thoughts like that ran across her mind, and she knew she shouldn't think like that. The past week or so she had been dabbing at the possibilities that she was attracted to the female population, but she was very unsure, thinking it was just a strange phase. Still, she didn't know why she felt such a bond with Audrey, it was just so.

Feeling fully awake, Ren checked the clock on her night stand, it was four in the morning. Not wanting to lay in bed for two more hours, she slung back her sheets, deciding to take a shower and finish her Defense Against the Dark Arts essay assigned yesterday.

By five, Ren was in the Common Room sitting by the slow burning fire, pondering what she could squeeze into another paragraph to meet the requirements. She was still the only one up, much to her surprise. But that didn't matter to her. Chewing on her quill, Ren let her eyes slide up to gaze toward the dormitories. She could hear some slight movements from up there, her eyes fixed on the top of the stairs. Almost on cue, there stood Audrey, looking down to Ren in slight confusion. "What are you doing?" she asked softly, striding down the stairs.

"Finishing some homework..." Ren replied, a shiver running up her spine, her mind flashing back to her dream. "Couldn't sleep..."

"Oh. Well, I was just wondering." she shrugged. "Just a little surprised to see anyone else up at this hour."

"I've not been sleeping well." Ren explained, scribbling something down. "Not since about a week ago." A week ago. A week ago Ren had held Audrey's hand. Not in a romantic way, but all the same, she didn't care. She wanted to hold it again. Her heart was pounding in her chest, like it would explode, as she stared into Audrey's eyes. She tried to read what she was thinking, but the light in the room was poor enough she couldn't see very well at all.

"You know, I was wondering, why is it that you moved here anyway?" Audrey asked, breaking the silence. Ren stiffened, scanning the room nervously. Her mind flashed back to the memories of France. Her eyes stung as she held back tears, her stomach becoming increasingly unsettled. "Ren..?"

"Hm?"

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"You know what?" Ren said dully to her sister that night.

"What's that?" Layla replied, looking up from her homework. It was fairly late; most students had already gone to bed, save a few, so Ren felt it safe to hold a private conversation. The lone group of students that were left was innocently across the room, playing a game of cards and talking loudly.

"I never realized until today, we never figured out who that was and how they knew." Ren said darkly, in a low tone of voice. Layla froze, looking nervously into her sister's eyes. "I never thought about it much until today."

"What made today any different?" Layla inquired, squirming around uncomfortably in her chair.

"I was talking to Audrey this morning, and she asked why we came here." Ren explained, shifting in her chair.

"Oh..."

"And I realized I don't know." Ren said pressing on, with a sense of urgency. "I mean, I know, but... you understand what I mean..."

"Yeah..." Layla said, wanting to avoid the conversation altogether.

"I'm sorry." Ren said softly "I probably shouldn't have mentioned that. I know you don't like thinking about it."

"Mhmm..." Layla had broken eye contact with Ren, looking back to the parchment and books sprawled over the table. Ren sighed, resting her chin on her arm, silently watching her sister scribble notes onto scraps of parchment. Yawning, Ren realized how late it really was. "Guess I'm going to bed." she said breaking the silence. She stood up, rounding the table giving Layla a small goodnight hug. "Mind you don't stay up too late."

Heading up the stairs, Ren blindly went where her feet took her. She stood rooted just in front of the Fifth Years door. Looking around cautiously, she resisted an urge to visit the Seventh Year Dormitory, where Audrey bunked. Blinking and forcing back these impulses, Ren hastily entered their own dormitory.

Another few days passed lazily as ever, Ren was feeling sick all the time now, shaking often, especially when she thought of Audrey. Ren knew she should talk to Layla about whatever it was she was feeling, but she was still not quite sure herself. Not wanting to come right out to Layla with what was on her mind, she'd rather wait for an opportune moment. Ren knew her sister well enough that she knew she wouldn't have to wait long.

That Friday, the two were still up much past midnight, by that time everyone else had retired to bed. Just as she had hoped, Layla began to talk seriously with Ren. "You know, I've been a bit worried about you." she said "You haven't been eating or anything, you've been sick a lot recently."

"Yeah about that..." Ren said slowly, nervously playing with her hair. After double checking the room was completely empty, she couldn't put it off anymore. She knew the time was then. "I've been having these really weird thoughts lately, like the past few months..."

"Like what?"

"Like... Thoughts on girls." Her knuckles turned white as they fell from her hair to tights fists in her lap. The thought didn't seem to have made a spark with Layla, who sat in her chair, slightly confused looking. Ren reworded what she was trying to say. "I mean... I think I like girls... " She held her breath nervously as she awaited Layla's reply.

"You're kidding." Layla said, grinning slightly.

"No. I'm not." Ren said, slightly hurt that her sister wouldn't take her seriously on such a matter. "I've honestly been thinking seriously about this, and I really do think I like girls."

"I see..." Layla said almost in a whisper. She had become completely solemn by Ren's last statement, taking the situation into consideration, and trying to stomach what her sister was saying. Ren, on the other hand was shocked her sister hadn't said anything. She seemed not to show any emotion, which worried Ren. "Would I be wrong in assuming you wouldn't tell me who it is?"

"I never said there was a person involved with this." Ren said defensively, blushing. "All I'm trying to say is, I'm thinking I like girls, and that's all."

"Oh." Layla didn't seem too convinced, but remained silent for a moment. "Come on. Who is it?"

"No." Ren teased, her mood lightening considerably. Though her heart was still pounding uncontrollably, and she was shaking, it was a welcomed feeling to know she wasn't the only one with these thoughts now. She was feeling considerably lighter, and was glad that was off her chest. "I'm going to bed." she said, wanting to end the day on a lighter note than the past week or so.

"Bonne nuit." Layla said softly, seeming to be thinking deeply. Ren thought she looked slightly guilty, but couldn't be sure, so she shrugged it off.

"Layla..?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks... for not freaking out or anything." Ren felt her checks flush.

"It's not big deal." Layla replied "You're my sister. I'd always support you. You know that."

"I know... but thanks all the same."

A few days later, and Ren was glad to have told Layla her feelings, but that by no means meant she had told her everything. As far as Ren was concerned, Layla had no clue about how she felt toward Audrey, and that's how she wanted it. Sort of. She couldn't help but feel guilty, like she should tell her. But she didn't want to bother her sister with petty things like that. Lately, Layla herself had been acting funny. Ren wasn't sure what it was, but she blamed it on being away from Jeff, her boyfriend, for so long. The way she figured it, they had been away from France for a little over three months now; of course Layla would be frustrated from being away from Jeff. If Layla really wanted Ren to know something, she would tell her; until then Ren wouldn't bother her. So, she kept her attention on what she was feeling.

The days had been steadily growing shorter, as was Ren's attention toward school. The closer she felt toward Audrey, the more she liked her, and the less she was concerned with school. Many times she would stop and think to herself that she really should make more of an effort in her studies, that was why she was at school after all, but every time she sat down to study she just couldn't keep firm attention to the pages in front of her. Her mind, and often enough her eyes, would wander to Audrey wondering what to do with herself. More often than enough she found herself asking Audrey for help with her studies, which usually ended up with conversations having nothing to do with school. It was during those times that she really was happy, but upon departure for bed or classes she would feel at a loss.

Ren was still rather unsure of everything though. She had known Audrey for about three months, just friends, and about two weeks ago she began thinking of her in a different way. It wasn't until she had held Audrey's hand that she was really positive of those feelings, but even now she was slightly unsure. She felt as if things were going too fast, and if she admitted her feelings to Audrey or even Layla what if the next week she felt differently? Then she would be in an even bigger mess that already. It would be better to deny any of these feelings until she was sure. Until she was sure, she would not think about it. Simple as that.

However, not matter how hard she tried not to think of her situation, it was futile. Layla persisted in asking, Ren always refusing flatly, always with a blush and stupid grin. If that didn't make anything obvious, nothing would. So after a few days, Ren decided enough was enough.

"Come on Ren, I won't tell, who is it?" Layla asked playfully for what seemed like the millionth time. She seemed to be slightly amused by this game.

"Guess." Ren replied, lowering her eyes and trying not to grin thinking about Audrey. She didn't want to come right out and say, though the classroom was full of assorted conversations, she couldn't be sure no one was eavesdropping.

"I'm assuming I know them." Layla said thoughtfully.

"Yeah..."

"Our age or older?"

".. Older... "

"Tell me."

"Who do you think it is?"

Layla hesitated a moment, growing still and solemn as she realized Ren was being serious. She seemed to have a vague idea, but still paused almost as if questioning if it was ok to say it. "Is it... Is it Audrey?"

Seeming surprised her sister had guessed correctly, Ren stiffened up, not sure what to say. Looking at her hands laying idly on the countertop, chopping knife in one hand and the other holding the rat tails she had been chopping. Slowly, she nodded, a faint grin on her face, and a blush in her cheeks. "Is it obvious?" she asked, concerned.

"Only because I know you so well."

"Good."

A pause in the conversation swept over them before Layla spoke again. "Are you going to tell her?"

"No."


	11. 5L

The blackness surrounding her, the wind whistling past her ears, and the familiar sensation of falling into darkness engulfed her. Finally, after months of this, she hit the bottom, landing with a soft thump in a sea of white mist. The dark figure of a person stood before her, and a hand was stretched out towards her, offering to pull her back up, to help her rise. She reached out, wanting to be helped and discover who was saving her from herself.

Muffled cuss words came from Layla's mouth as she pushed her blanket off of her and threw her alarm clock across the room. She blinked, trying to clear the sleep from her eyes, and glanced around the room. Despite the fact that it was only 9am on Sunday, everybody was awake, and the dormitory was empty except for her.

Quickly deciding that she wanted to spend a day acting like Ren yesterday, meaning basically sleeping the day away, she showered and then headed for the Room of Requirements. It had become exactly the recluse in the overly-populated castle that she needed, the link to her past. She whiled away the hours sleeping in her old bed, playing Louis, and writing depressing poems, just like she would have done if it was summertime in France. Layla had enjoyed a brief period of time without feeling homesick, but now it was catching up with her. She didn't even bother to leave her haven for breakfast or lunch, nor did she bother to get the room to conjure up something for her. Though her stomach grumbled angrily at her, she didn't _feel _hungry, so she didn't bother thinking about food.

At dinner, Layla realized that she should make an appearance, so she finally left the room and went down to get food. Neither Ren nor Skye mentioned anything about her absence, but James shot her worried looks from the Ravenclaw table. She forced herself to eat a muffin, before giving up on the thought of food, muttering a goodbye to her sister, and leaving the Great Hall. At the top of the stairs, she debated whether she should return to the Room of Requirements or Gryffindor Tower. Right after she began heading towards the Tower, James appeared from behind her.

"Are you okay? You weren't at breakfast or lunch, and you didn't look so good at dinner. Actually, you don't look very good now, either… what's wrong?" He didn't bother to hide his concern from his face, and it showed plainly in his dark eyes as well.

"I'm fine… I just feel kind of weird, that's all. It's not important," Layla looked down, unable to hold his piercing gaze.

"Usually when someone says that it's not important, it is. Seriously, what's wrong?"

"I… I'm homesick, I guess. I miss France, my home, my family, my friends, my life… I lost it all at once, and it suddenly hit me how much I miss it."

James looked thoughtful for a moment, before asking, "Why did you leave it so suddenly?" Layla's eyes widened at the question, and James saw the fear and guilt buried in them. "I'm sorry. I understand that you're not ready to say, and-"

He was cut short as Layla threw her arms around his waist, burying her face into the robes covering his chest. Her small frame shook with barely suppressed sobs, and he rubbed her back gently, making soft calming noises.

"I'm sorry… it must have been awful, whatever happened," James whispered, more to himself than to Layla.

"It was… and it's so much scarier, knowing that we're still not safe, even here. If he finds us… oh, what if he hurt Ren? I would never be able to live… not if I lose her, too…" Layla looked up at him, her blue eyes, flecked with red, swimming with tears. "I'm sorry… I… I'm so sorry."

Without really knowing what she was apologizing for, or running from, she turned and dashed towards Gryffindor Tower.

Later that night, Layla sat in a corner of the Common Room, finishing the essay for History of Magic that she had forgotten about. Ren sat beside her, looking up every few minutes at the small group of students playing cards on the other side of the room.

"You know what?" Ren asked quietly in a hollow voice.

Layla glanced up from her homework, then turned back to it. "What?"

"I never realized until today, we never figured out who that was and how they knew. I never thought about it much until today." Ren's voice had instantly become darker, angrier.

Layla froze, and fidgeted nervously when she recovered from the initial shock. "What made today any different?"

"I was talking to Audrey this morning, and she asked why we came here," was the reply, as Ren shifted a little in her chair.

"Oh…" Layla muttered, unable to find anything else to say.

"And I realized, I don't know. I mean, I know, but… you understand what I mean…"

"Yeah…"

"I'm sorry," Ren's voice had lost its anger, and had taken on a softer note. "I probably shouldn't have mentioned that. I know you don't like thinking about it."

"Mhm…"

Layla bent over her essay, scribbling the last few lines as Ren watched her. A sigh escaped her older sister's lips, as the two sat for a moment without speaking.

"Guess I'm going to bed. Mind you don't stay up too late," Ren said, stifling a yawn and giving her twin a hug.

Five days had passed since the uncomfortable conversation that the twins had in the Common Room. Once again, it was a little after midnight, and the two were sitting in their corner. This time, though, it was empty; all of the other students had gone up to bed hours ago. Layla knew this might be the only chance she would have any time soon to really talk to her sister, so she grabbed the opportunity.

"You know, I've been a bit worried about you. You haven't been eating or anything; you've been sick a lot recently," she said, her voice full of concern.

"Yeah, about that…" Ren twirled a few strands of her dark hair around her finger, looking nervous. Her eyes darted around the room, as if reassuring herself that it was really empty. "I've been having these really weird thoughts lately, like the past few months…"

"Like what?" Layla inquired, relieved that Ren was opening up so much more easily than Layla had thought she would.

"Like… thoughts on girls. I mean… I think I like girls…" Ren's hands were clenched tightly in her lap, and her skin seemed paler than usual. Layla noticed that she was holding her breath as if expecting a bomb to go off at any second, and her lips curled into a slight grin without her noticing it.

"You're kidding." Even as she said this, Layla's mind was turning this knowledge over in her mind. Her sister had seemed very confused and stressed recently, as if making discoveries about herself.

"No, I'm not. I've honestly been thinking seriously about this, and I really do think I like girls," Ren said, sounding hurt.

"I see…" Layla paused, mentally sliding her mask over her face to hide her thoughts and emotions from her sister's piercing gaze. She tried to think of why she hadn't noticed this before, why she was obviously such a bad sister. Suddenly, she remembered the waves of fierce protectiveness that flooded her whenever Audrey and Ren were together. "Would I be wrong in assuming you wouldn't tell me who it is?"

"I never said there was a person involved with this. All I'm trying to say is, I'm thinking I like girls, and that's all," Ren's cheeks developed a slight pink tint to them.

"Oh," Layla paused for a moment again. "Come on. Who is it?"

"No," Ren said, though her voice was teasing. She had relaxed considerably, though Layla noticed that she still trembled every few moments. "I'm going to bed."

"Bonne nuit," Layla whispered, too lost in thought to really register what her sister had just said. She felt bad, as if she was a bad sister because she hadn't really noticed this.

"Layla…?"

"Yeah?" She looked up, meeting her sister's gaze.

"Thanks… for not freaking out or anything," Ren said, blushing again.

"It's not a big deal. You're my sister. I'd always support you. You know that."

"I know… but thanks, all the same."

Ren walked slowly up the stairs to the dormitory, and Layla watched her go, feeling as if her sister was growing up too fast, and not even noticing that both of them had already grown up long ago.

Another few days passed, and Layla was now becoming extremely stressed. She was arguing with herself about how she felt about James, yelling at herself for everything that had happened with Jeff, and feeling very guilty for not only keeping secrets from her twin sister, but for also not being able to help her with the transition as she came to grip with her new feelings. So, Layla spent a lot of time teasing her sister about the "mystery person" that Ren had a crush on. She couldn't help but find it cute that her older sister would always blush and smile every time that topic of conversation came up, and it was the only way that Layla knew how to make Ren smile anymore.

Finally, Ren seemed to crack; either Layla was driving her insane, or she just wanted to open up. They were in the middle of a Potions lesson, preparing the ingredients for the potion that they were supposed to make that day.

"Come on, Ren, I won't tell, who is it?" Layla asked playfully.

"Guess," Ren said as she barely suppressed a grin.

"I'm assuming I know them," Layla said, thoughtfully, afraid to come right out and say her guess on the off-chance that she was wrong.

"Yeah…"

"Our age, or older?"

"… older…"

"Tell me."

"Who do you think it is?"

She hesitated, afraid that she was going to be wrong and Ren would be angry, but decided to just go for it. "Is it… is it Audrey?"

Ren stiffened up momentarily, pausing in her cutting of rat tails. She nodded slowly, blushing and smiling like she always did whenever Layla made her think of her crush. "Is it obvious?"

"Only because I know you so well," Layla assured her.

"Good."

The two fell silent again, before Layla decided to ask the question that had been lingering at the back of her mind. "Are you going to tell her?"

"No," Ren said firmly, fervently chopping rat tails again.


	12. 6R

Ren was a person who always saw two sides to everything. Having told Layla about Audrey, she now had two opinions on the matter. Relief was the first. Having told Layla was a nice feeling, and her sister had surprisingly been very accepting of Ren's recent findings. However, then there was the second part. As any normal sibling would, Layla had taken to teasing Ren about Audrey; which was growing more and more embarrassing, as well as slightly annoying. Still, the good outweighed the bad; Ren was just relieved of Layla's acceptance.

Despite her now easier relationship with her sister, Ren felt as though the world were pressing down on her. It was now not herself that worried her, but Layla. Her sister had been rather down the past few weeks, and she seemed to be very distant with Ren, despite her attempt to be supportive of Ren. In response, Ren allowed her sister all the alone time she needed, understanding that sometimes a person just does not want to be with people. Still, she never seemed to be getting better.

On top of that, her relationship with Audrey was always rather nerve-racking on Ren's part. She wasn't sure if Audrey had the slightest clue or not, but these days she was always shaking in Audrey's presence. The mere thought of her sent shivers up Ren's spine. She was getting used to it though, and felt she managed to cope well for the situation. Often enough though, Ren would go to bed without supper, after debating the idea for a while. Food never seemed to be too tempting at all anymore, but she didn't care. She would pull through, and she was trying her best to work with Layla through whatever was bothering her. Though, it proved difficult, as Layla flatly refused to tell her anything.

Sooner than expected, Winter Break crept up. Professor McGonagall passed out a slip of parchment to all her classes, requesting the students to sigh their name if they were to remain at Hogwarts. Not surprisingly, a lot of students went home. What did come as a surprise to Ren, was that Audrey had mentioned staying. Not that it was a bad thing, Ren was extremely glad to hear the news. But still, she couldn't help but shudder at the thought of being almost alone with Audrey for two whole weeks, she wondered if Audrey really was staying or if she was just trifling with the idea.

For what seemed like an eternity, Ren had been showing symptoms of her feelings to Audrey. She still wasn't eating much, and her hands were shaking just as often as ever. The conditions seemed to worsen though. Passing Audrey in the hallway or the common room, Ren found her knees weakening, almost as if she would collapse. At night, when it was cold, dark, and lonesome, she would lie awake wondering what it would be like to be in Audrey's arms. She found herself constantly cold, unless in the presence of Audrey, in which her body temperature skyrocketed and she became uncomfortably hot. Feeling torn in half, Ren wondered if she had really meant what she said when she told Layla she wouldn't let Audrey know. At this point, she wanted to scream how much she loved her every time she was with Audrey. When they were separated, Ren found herself extremely moody and her eyes were constantly welling up with tears.

It was of Ren's opinion, however, that perhaps she wasn't the only one with the crush. Lately, she had been noticing Layla grow more tense as the days went on. She noticed her sister dazing off during dinner, more often than that, she would note her sister's wandering eyes. Despite following them, Ren never could quite tell where she was looking, the halls was always conveniently crowded just enough. Ren wanted to know what was on her sibling's mind, but she felt out of place directly acting. Before, they would tell each other everything, but now everything was different. She felt slightly betrayed her sister didn't feel the need to confide in her, which left her a feeling of failure. What made things worse is that it appeared like Layla was aware of how Ren felt about all of this.

One day, the two were traveling back to the Common Room from Dinner, Layla seemed rather heavy that day, and Ren was going crazy feeling vulnerable to protect her sister. "Ren." Layla said, as the mounted the stairs. "I have something to tell you."

"Really?" Ren replied, trying not to sound as if she expected it.

"Yeah. Follow me."

"Sure." This time, Ren was stumped. Layla was leading her into a corridor she had never been to before. It was dimly lit, and looked as though not many people at all ever used the hall.

"Right here." Layla said stopping abruptly.

"There's nothing here." Ren said blatantly, seeming a little irritated.

Layla said nothing, instead she was pacing, as if she knew what she was doing. Folding her arms across her chest, Ren watched in wonder as a wooden door appeared out of what had once been a solid stone wall. Layla seized the handle, allowing Ren to go in first, following shortly after. Ren couldn't help but stare in awe. The room looked exactly like Layla's old room in France had been.

"What is this?" Ren asked, amazed, mouth slightly open. Her eyes darted all over the place, scanning the room in approval. "This is amazing."

"They call it the Room of Requirement." Layla said, making sure the door was locked securely before striding over to the bed where her guitar lay. Ren stood rooted to the spot, gaping at her sister who seemed to see this as no big deal. "Sit down, we need to talk." Layla said, pointing a finger to the chair by her desk before seating herself on the messy bed, gently strumming the guitar strings. Ren obeyed, pulling the chair out, throwing an old, dirty sock aside before sitting down. She dropped her bag by her feet and looked around more. Layla was still fingering her guitar, seeming pensive and thoughtful, at peace.

"Why did you bring me here?" Ren asked slowly, happy to see Layla happy.

Layla shrugged. "I figured you should know about it. Besides, I needed a place to talk to you, and this is about as private as it gets."

"What about?"

"It's kind of hard." she replied, pausing from her guitar to look up at Ren.

"It's usually best to just say it, get it over with." Ren said, remembering how nervous she was when she confessed how she felt about Audrey.

"I know... But I'm no good at 'just saying it'."

Ren said nothing, allowing Layla to gather her thoughts again.

"There's... this guy. Say I like him... and... well- I really like him."

"What about Jeff?"

"I don't know." Layla hung her head, staring at the neck of her guitar; almost as if trying to remember a chord. "I still like him... but it's just that..."

"You've been away from him for such a long time you've lost your feelings for him?" Ren suggested. Layla shrugged, looking as though this statement didn't satisfy what she was trying to say; but she didn't protest either, she just contented staring at her guitar, holding it affectionately.

"Ever since I've known James I can't stop thinking about him." Layla said after a moment of silence. "I like Jeff, and I can't not think of him either; but for everything that I lacked with Jeff, it's like James could make up for that."

"Well, I don't see any harm in that." Ren said, realizing how confused her sister must be. "I mean, we're probably never going back to France anyway, so it's not like you honestly have a chance with Jeff anyway." Realizing what she had said came out rather bitter, Ren wished she hadn't said it, but Layla seemed to not care. She simply shrugged and continued idly picking strings. Ren wondered if Layla was done with her confessions or not; it appeared as though there was still something on her mind, but she also appeared inclined to just sit there in silence strumming chords.

"I miss France." she said softly, staring blankly at the wall, avoiding eye contact with Ren. "But then again, I like James so much, it's not like a crush so much as a..."

"Obsession?" Ren asked, cutting in again. Layla nodded, her eyes wandering about the room, still avoiding Ren. "I know how you feel." she sighed, thinking about Audrey.

"You can go if you want." Layla said, seeming to know what Ren was thinking about.

"Not if you've got more to tell me." Ren didn't mean to pry, but if her sister was taking the time to open up now, she at least wanted to full story.

"There's nothing to tell." Layla said, seeming to want to drop the subject. "I mean, that's it. I like James Karn, and that's it."

"That's all that's been gnawing at you?"

"Yes." Layla said in a definite tone. When this was said Ren knew she lost the battle, and began to back off.

"Ok then." She said standing up, pushing the chair back in where it had once sat. "I'll go." Ren knew her sister wanted to be left a lone with her thoughts now, but she didn't want to leave. Not really. She was slightly relieved to be going back to the Common Room- back to Audrey. But the nature of her was rarely inclined to leave her sibling in a critical time as such. However, she respected Layla's wants, and took up her bag once more, leaving swiftly through the door. She stood outside the door a moment, taking in the surroundings; she wanted to make sure she knew where this magical room was before departing. The corridor was blank and cold, nothing amazing stood out about it. In fact, the only decor in the whole hall was a tapestry of dancing trolls. So, that was how she would remember, look for the dancing trolls.

Walking back to the Common Room, Ren reflected on what had just happened between the two of them. Ren was grateful Layla was letting her in on the picture. She was also grateful that Layla had found the Room of Requirement, she looked so happy to be holding a guitar once more. It was then that she realized how much she missed her own guitar. She regretted leaving France so quickly. They had rushed themselves out of the country so fast, they had only packed essentials. But that wasn't their fault. Ren just missed all of the things she had in France.

Entering the Common Room, she hadn't noticed how depressed she was making herself, until she saw Audrey and lightened up. Despite how much she missed France, she realized she could never go back. Not after becoming so attached to Audrey. She was the one person aside from her family that she had learned to trust completely, and love; for that she would gladly give up her guitar.


	13. 6L

In order to take her mind off of things, Layla began to tease Ren about Audrey, which began to get on her sister's nerves after a few weeks. Still, the twins were apart often enough that Layla's thoughts were getting to her, and she knew that she was on the verge of an emotional breakdown. At lunch, Ren sat and talked with Audrey, and after classes and weekends the two just did their own thing. Usually, they were too busy taking notes or working to talk much in class, so the two didn't talk very often. When they did, Layla made sure to talk about Ren's problems, because she knew that Ren was going through a hard time and needed support, and insisted in her mind that she shouldn't burden her sister with her pathetic issues.

Layla had been watching her sister for the past few weeks, ever since finding out about her sister's crush. She knew that these emotions were tearing Ren apart, and hated the thought of not being able to help; she hated feeling useless and just watching her sister suffer. Ren was shaking a lot, eating less, always cold, and getting continually weaker. Layla knew that her sister wasn't sleeping well at night; sometimes, early in the morning, she would hear her sister muttering Audrey's name softly to herself. It didn't dawn on Layla that she was sleeping just as poorly, if she was awake to hear that. Plus, Ren was constantly on the verge of tears, unless she was with Audrey. For that alone, Layla became quite bitter with Audrey; _she _was able to make Ren feel better, while her own twin was powerless.

When the inevitable breakdown finally came, Layla was very glad that it was in the one class that she and Ren didn't have together: Divination. It was a typical Tuesday afternoon, but Layla wasn't paying any attention to Trelawney. In fact, she hadn't been paying much attention in any of her classes, though usually she found them interesting; lately, she had been thinking about Jeff or James all of the time. At that particular time, Layla had been thinking about Jeff; she honestly didn't know what to think about him. She had loved him so much, but he had cheated on her, hurt her, and what was worse, he had been almost as responsible as she for the death of her mother.

Emotions were much too difficult to handle, especially for a teenage girl with a mess of problems. Layla's thoughts were just too much to handle; so, natural reactions won out, and she began sobbing. She curled herself into a ball, wrapping her arms around her legs and burying her face into her knees. To anyone looking at her, she would have looked like a lump of black rags, with her baggy clothes and long hair hiding all of her pale skin. Rather than actually work, she remained like that for the rest of the class, grateful that she sat in the very back corner by herself. When the bell rang, she practically ran down the ladder and to the nearest bathroom.

Luckily, it was empty, so she stood for a moment, looking at her reflection in the mirror. After splashing some water onto her face, the tear stains on her cheeks and her watery eyes weren't noticeable anymore. She stared at herself for a moment, and then she suddenly wanted to change to her vampire form, which she hadn't been in since the day before she had left France. Despite the fact that she was in a bathroom and someone could walk in at any time, Layla pulled out her wand and muttered the spell that would change her eye color back to red. Her canines lengthened and their points became sharper. Just like that, she was her true self again. She suddenly looked taller, regal, more confident. Layla grinned at her reflection; she wasn't pretending anymore, and it felt good.

Just then, she heard the door open with a squeak and a girl ran in sobbing, going right past Layla and into a toilet stall. Layla had frozen in shock, but quickly retracted her teeth, and changed her eyes back to dark blue. She glanced at the door, and then at the stall that the girl had run into, debating what she should do. Sighing and berating herself in her head for being too nice, she walked over and knocked softly on the door of the bathroom stall.

"Are you okay?" she asked to the flat wood, before it swung open to reveal a short girl. Reddish brown hair with copper highlights fell down to her waist, and her grey-green eyes were shining with tears.

"I'm sorry… I didn't know anyone else was in here… I'll leave you alone," she muttered, biting her lip.

"What? Oh, no, it's perfectly fine; I was just wondering if there was anything that I could do to help you."

"Why would you want to help me?" The expression on the girl's face was a mixture of confusion and curiosity.

"Well, typically, when someone's upset, people try to help them and make them feel better… typically," Layla said, holding out her hand. "I'm Layla Sorge, by the way. What's your name?"

"Isabella Montagne," the girl replied with a smile, shaking the offered hand.

"Why were you crying, if you don't mind me asking?"

"My brother… died. I just found out today, right after Transfiguration. I just… he took precautions, they made sure of it, and now people might suspect them… I hope we don't have to move…"

Layla looked at her for a moment, confused, but then realized that Isabella was on the verge of crying again. "So, um… where do you live now?" She mentally kicked herself for coming up with such a lame way to distract the girl from her worried thoughts.

"Auvergne."

"Hey, that's not too far from Paris!"

"How'd you know that? It's such a small town…" Isabella suddenly looked suspicious.

"I used to live in a 'small town' over near Luxembourg, and I visited that area once when I was younger."

"Oh… I guess that explains it."

"No need to be so paranoid, Isabella," Layla teased, throwing her arm around the shorter girl's shoulders as they walked out of the bathroom together.

"Call me Ella," she replied, smiling up at her.

The two spent the rest of the day getting to know each other, and teasing each other in French. Layla hadn't had a long conversation in French for a long time, and it had a calming result on her.

In Layla's next Transfiguration class, McGonagall passed around a slip of parchment for all of the students who weren't going home over Winter Break to sign. This was a surprise in itself to her; she hadn't realized how close to the holidays it had become.

A few days later, Layla decided that she needed to tell her twin about Jeff and James. Once that decision was made, she spent the entire day gathering up her courage. As they began to walk up the stairs in the Great Hall, prepared to head back to the Common Room now that dinner was over, Layla realized that this might be her only chance to get her sister alone.

"Ren… I have something to tell you," she said softly, her mind still preoccupied with the thought of what she was about to say.

"Really?"

"Yeah; follow me."

"Sure," Ren said, turning away from the path to Gryffindor Tower. They walked in silence through a series of dimly lit corridors.

"Right here," Layla said, stopping next to the painting of dancing trolls.

"There's nothing here," Ren said, sounding irritated.

Layla didn't say anything in response, but merely began pacing as she had been doing so often in the past few weeks. The familiar door appeared, and Ren shot a surprised look at it, but stepped through it when Layla held it open for her.

"What is this? This is amazing," Ren gasped, looking around the room in wonder, much as Layla had when she had first entered it.

"They call it the Room of Requirements," Layla said, locking the door and then walking over to her bed. Layla pointed to the chair beside the desk, before picking up her guitar and gently strumming the strings. "Sit down, we need to talk."

Ren threw a sock off of the chair and sat, as her sister continued to play random chords, seemingly lost in thought. "Why did you bring me here?"

"I figured you should know about it. Besides, I needed a place to talk to you, and this is about as private as it gets," Layla said with a shrug.

"What about?"

"It's kind of hard." Layla's hand froze over the strings of her guitar, and she looked up at her twin. She wondered how to tell her sister that their mother's death was her fault; that they might not be safe in their new home because of what she had done.

"It's usually best to just say it, get it over with."

"I know… but I'm no good at 'just saying it'," Layla said. Telling her sister about James wouldn't be too hard, that much she could do, so she figured she'd start there. "There's… this guy. Say I like him… and… well, I really like him."

"What about Jeff?"

Layla looked back down at Louis, running her fingers over his smooth blue body. "I don't know. I still like him… but it's just that…" She wondered how to tell her sister that it's hard to love and hate someone so much at once. She loved him, for who he was, how he made her feel; yet she hated him, for breaking her heart, and for turning the villagers against her mother.

"You've been away from him for such a long time that you've lost your feelings for him?" Ren suggested, trying to help her sister voice her thoughts.

Layla shrugged but said nothing. Yes, the distance was a part of it, allowing her to focus more on her hatred, and try to ignore the fact that she was in love with him still. "Ever since I've known James, I can't stop thinking about him. I like Jeff, and I can't stop thinking about him, either; but for everything that I lacked with Jeff, it's like James can make up for that."

"Well, I don't see any harm in that. I mean, we're probably never going back to France anyway, so it's not like you honestly have a chance with Jeff anyway," Ren stopped abruptly, looking guilty for having said that, but Layla didn't make any sign of acknowledging what had just been said, as she randomly being playing another song.

Once she had finished playing, she looked up at the wall on which a mirror hung, meeting the eyes of her reflection. If she looked at her sister, she was afraid that Ren would see her emotions, and know that what she had just said was the least of what she needed to say. "I miss France," she whispered, more to herself than her older twin. "But then again, I like James so much. It's not like a crush, so much as a…"

"Obsession?" Ren interrupted, and Layla nodded slowly. "I know how you feel."

"You can go, if you want," she said, knowing that her sister was thinking of Audrey, and probably would rather hang out with her. The familiar, sharp pain resurfaced as she remembered that she was unable to make her twin smile anymore, only Audrey could make Ren happy these days.

"Not if you've got more to tell me."

"There's nothing to tell. I mean, that's it. I like James Karn, and that's it." Layla immediately regretted the words; she had brought Ren here to tell her about Jeff, but had chickened out.

"That's all that's been gnawing at you?"

"Yes," Layla said; if she was going to lie, she might as well do it properly.

"Okay, then… I'll go." Ren stood up, pushing the chair back to the desk. She hesitated for a moment, as if wanting to say something else, but walked quickly and silently to the door.

As soon as she was gone, Layla broke down into tears again. Setting Louis gently on the floor, she buried her face into her pillow, breathing in the smells of France, her mother, her home.

"Désolée… ma soeur, ma mère… je m'excuse d'avoir été stupide… j'étais tellement stupide… pardonne-moi, je vous demande… désolée…" she muttered into her pillow.

An hour later, after erasing all the signs that she had just been crying, she returned to Gryffindor Tower. She pretended to not see Ren, talking to Audrey near the fireplace, and went straight upstairs for a shower. Directly after pulling on her pajamas, she crawled into bed. When she closed her eyes, all she could see was James' beautiful brown eyes, and Jeff's deep blue ones. Then, her mother's kind green eyes, flecked with red, replaced both other pairs, and Layla cried herself to sleep; yet another night in which she fell asleep on a wet pillow, curled up in a tight ball as if that position would offer her body from escape from the cold that she constantly felt.


	14. 7R

Christmas Break had come at a fast pace. The halls were less crowded, as a good chunk of the student body was now at home with their families. A scent of nutmeg, cinnamon, and evergreen was present wherever one went. The halls were bright and cheerful with the decorations. Evergreens lined the Great Hall, all decked out with tinsel, ornaments, and other assorted decorations. Younger students were found traveling in packs of choruses, singing every Christmas Carol imaginable. The grounds were covered in a soft layer of powdery white snow. Everything was in place for Christmas.

A few days before Christmas, Ren was sitting with Audrey at lunch, forcing down food as usual. Layla was off studying in the library with James. Thinking about her concern for Layla, Ren had just taken a sip from her flask, placing it down on the table by her plate, when Audrey pointed to it. "What's in there?"

"Nothing." Ren answered quickly, her eyes darting from the dented flask to Audrey, then back. She shrugged, not knowing what to say, clipping it onto her belt.

"There's obviously something in there." Audrey said playfully, stealthily grabbing the flask from Ren's waist. Ren shivered, trying to take it out of Audrey's hand; but Audrey held it away, swinging it around just out of her reach.

"Audrey." Ren said seriously. "Give it back. Please."

"Why? Is it Polyjuice Potion? Are you a Death Eater?"

"' 'ey! Don't joke about things like that!" One of the Prefects from down the table said, before turning back to their conversation. They obviously didn't care at all, but were simply saying so to uphold their duties.

"Give it back!" Ren pleaded, a soft but frantic tone of voice. She reached out trying to grab it once more, but again, Audrey pulled away. "It's nothing, just let me have it."

"You're right, it doesn't smell like anything." Audrey noted, unscrewing the lid and inhaling. Before Ren could stop her, Audrey had put her lips to the mouth of the flask, taking a swig. Her eyes enlarged as she jerked the flask away with disgust. Acting quickly, Ren grabbed Audrey's hand and pulled her out of the Great Hall. At this point, she didn't care if Audrey had the flask or not anymore, what's done is done, and she just needed to get out of there.

"Don't say a word." Ren said through her gritted teeth. She was trying her best not to be angry, which was painful to be upset with Audrey. But still, she had done something Ren regretted, and now she needed to do something she hoped she never would have to do. Ren let go of Audrey's hand after pulling her halfway up the stairs to the second floor, she was too upset to even touch Audrey, not like she could on normal circumstances anyway.

Reaching the Gryffindor Tower, she pulled Audrey into her secluded dormitory after making sure no one was in. Locking the door, she cast a silencing spell over the room. No one from outside could hear they were in there, nor could they get in.

"Ren... why is there blood in here?" Audrey asked, shakily sitting down onto Ren's bed.

"Oh god." Ren said frustrated "You haven't put two and two together?" Audrey slowly shook her head, seeming to possibly working things over in her head, but still confused. "Christ. Don't freak out." She was worried, worried to the point of shaking almost beyond control. She took a few steps back from where Audrey was seated, withdrawing her wand from her robe pocket. "Too late to go back now..." she muttered.

"Acclaro!" Ren knew by now that it was better to close her eyes as the charm vanished. Changing the color or look of yourself was painful, for Metamorphagus and just regular charms. Rubbing her eyes, Ren looked to Audrey, who was sitting at the edge of the bed. It appeared she was both eager and slightly scared; she looked to Ren, who still wasn't done. Letting her canines grow out, Ren's teeth molded into sharp fangs. Ren gave her a worried smile.

"You... You're a vampire!" Ren nodded her head, for some reason feeling slightly ashamed. Her eyes meet with the floor, she didn't know what to do or say, she hadn't known any other way as effective to tell Audrey as this; she wouldn't have believed her if Ren had just told her. "What the hell!"

The senses of a vampire are much more acute than that of a human, Ren could sense Audrey's blood pulsing through her body at an unnaturally fast pace. "Audrey- listen-"

"Ren, what the FUCK!" Audrey had leaped off the bed, inching to the door in a scared panic. This was most definitely not how Ren had planned this conversation, now she was beginning to panic.

"Please, Audrey, listen to me-" Ren followed Audrey over to the door.

"What the fuck is this all about?" Audrey's hand was on the door knob. This was out of hand.

"Stop!" Ren said, her voice pleading with Audrey, placing one hand on the door in hopes of restraining Audrey. Her crimson eyes darted to meet Audrey's green; she couldn't see any emotion in her eyes but fear. Hope was leaving her completely; she swallowed hard, fighting back tears. "I haven't done anything yet have I?" she asked softly.

"No." Audrey replied shortly, putting on an act of courage.

"Then tell me... Why would this make anything any different?" Ren inquired, looking to the floor. She couldn't handle looking into Audrey's eyes anymore; she couldn't stand to see her in such a state. Audrey remained silent, muddling over the right words. "I wouldn't dream of doing anything to you." Her hand slid off the door, falling down to her side. She didn't know what to do. She was standing alone with someone she loved tremendously, trying to choke out bits of the most awkward conversation she had ever had, forcing herself not to cry, not to do anything stupid, not to fuck up.

"Me. But what about the rest of the school?" Audrey asked, gesturing to the general direction of the Common Room.

"No." Ren said, looking up, her vision blurred. "I wouldn't do anything to anyone." It hurt to think of Audrey doubting her, to have her critiquing her. "I wasn't raised to kill, or harm mortals in any way." At this, she sensed Audrey's heartbeat decreasing slightly. Her blood was pulsing through her body at such a rate; Ren could only wonder what it tasted like, but the faint aroma she was getting was amazing. "And I would only transform a mortal if they were willing..." she continued, whipping her eye nonchalantly. "But I never have." Audrey still said nothing. Feeling doubtful, Ren strode back over to her bed, picking up things on her bedside table.

"What are you doing?"

"Packing." Ren replied, whipping her eyes again. "I can't stay here, not now."

"Why?"

"Because you know now. More than likely, it will get out about Layla and I, widespread panic will sweep across the castle, and Dumbledore will kick us out for breaking our promise."

"What promise?" Audrey asked, becoming bolder as she marched over to Ren.

"When Dumbledore allowed us to enroll, he knew we're vampires, but made us swear to not tell anyone. Not like we would have anyway." Ren sighed. "Then you came along..."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't say that." Ren said bitterly through her teeth. "Just... you can go, I know you want to." Pulling a book out from under her pillow, Ren swept her palm across the cover. She must have read this book about a million times since she had checked it out for the first time, back when everyone had been gone at Hogsmeade. It seemed like ages ago... "If you would, take this back to the library for me." Ren said, stretching her hand, and the book, out to Audrey.

"Ok." Audrey replied, guilt ringing in her voice. She took the book, tucking it safely under her arm and strode out the door. Ren watched in a frozen pose as Audrey walked out. She felt as if she were never to see her again, like nothing mattered anymore. Her knees were weak, shaking, tears fell down her cheeks. Nothing mattered. Collapsing onto her bed, she cried, letting the pillows become soggy and the sheets twisted. Nothing mattered. Time passed slowly. What seemed to be an hour turned out to only be ten minutes. Footsteps approached.

Hastily, Ren sat up, dried her eyes, and transformed back into her mortal form. A knock on the door rung out against the silence of the afternoon. Ren didn't care who it was, instead she busied herself with organizing her books into a neat stack. Her heart was pounding through her veins, but she remained clam until she heard a voice talking to her.

"I saw what you had been reading..." Audrey's voice said slowly, cautiously.

Ren spun around to see Audrey standing awkwardly in the doorway, holding the book open to where Ren had left off, easily marked by a scrap of parchment. "What about it?" Ren asked, refusing to look Audrey straight in the eye.

"Can I ask you something?" This time curiosity filled her voice.

"What?"

"Will you change back? I want to see you." Ren's eye darted to meet Audrey's.

"If you want." Ren replied, fishing for her wand. Quickly undoing the hasty charm she had just performed; relaxing, and allowing her fangs grow. Instantly she could sense Audrey's pulse once more, this time relaxed, slow. She was relieved at how calm she was now, looking at her with a questioning look.

"I just-" Audrey stopped, stuck on her words. "I want to know why it is you're here, in Britain."

"Please." Ren pleaded, looking away. "Don't make me think about it." Memories came gushing to her, causing her to become weak on the feet. Caving in onto her bed, Ren tried desperately not to cry.

"Shit, I'm sorry." Audrey cried, pacing over to Ren. "If you don't want to talk about it that's ok." She sat down on the bed, next to Ren.

"You didn't know." Ren replied, burying her face into her hands; a feeble attempt to be brave.

"I'm sorry." Audrey said again, making a bold move and wrapping her arm around Ren, pulling her close. Ren acted on impulse, instinctively wrapping her arms around Audrey's neck, burying her face into her shoulder. She was scared to pieces, sitting there; the one person she had immense feelings for had their arm around her. Trembling all over, both from crying and from pure nervousness. She felt stupid from forcing herself onto Audrey like this, but there was also a part of her swimming in greed. She didn't know what to do, so she just sat there, holding onto Audrey and crying. Apparently Audrey didn't mind too much, which was good, because Ren was holding on so tight she didn't have much of a choice. It was comforting to have Audrey holding her, gently stroking her hair. After a while, Ren came to realize, she wasn't drying because of her past per-say. She was crying because of how badly she loved Audrey, she realized that she had been longing for her touch, and somehow felt that she would never be able to receive the feelings from Audrey that she felt for her.

"You better go." Ren said, finally breaking away, not like she wanted to.

"Why?"

"I don't want to do something stupid." Ren replied, whipping a tear as she became dangerously aware of how good the faint smell of Audrey's blood seemed.

"Like what?"

Those words, those two four letter words, seemed to hang in the air for hours. Slowly, Ren coined together a daring move, but it was rather spur of the moment, and she wanted to get it off her chest.

"Like... kiss you."

Time stopped. Audrey didn't look phased at all, rather mellow and pleased. The two of them were leaning in closer and closer each second, until their faces were a mere inch away from each other. Audrey's breath swept over Ren's lips like a warm blanket. It seemed they were stuck on that second, until a whirlwind took over, and Ren realized she and Audrey were kissing. Sweet, quick, and wonderful. Breaking, in what Ren thought to be too quick, the two sat there stone still, the only sound that could be heard was the gentle panting of the two girls. They were close; so close in fact, that their noses were touching, eyes staring at each other in a piercing manner.

"Like that?" Audrey breathed, seeming almost challenged.

"Yeah." Ren replied softly, a blush rising in her cheeks. Realizing what was happening, her mind screamed in protest. She was being stupid, wanting Audrey like a greedy child. This had to be a dream. There was no way Audrey would be coming onto her like this, not after how angry she had been with her just a little while ago. She took in a deep breath, backing off and looking away. Her heart was hammering in her chest, so was Audrey's, she was shaking with excitement, becoming stupid and numb from lust. "Complètement dingue..." she said to herself, shoving her face into her hands as she silently cursed herself out in French even more. "J'ai l'air con."

"What's wrong..?" Audrey asked, obviously not understanding the self insults.

"I'm an idiot that's what's wrong." Ren said, twisting her fingers together as she tried to lessen her shaking. She looked to the wall as she spoke, not wanting to look at Audrey.

"You're not." Audrey insisted, trailing her index knuckle along Ren's jaw line, forcing her to look at her. "Why do you say that?"

"Alors la..." Quickly remembering Audrey didn't speak French, so spoke again in English. "I... I don't know..." She couldn't seem to find the words. They were there, hiding in the dark corner of her mind, but she couldn't seem to get out what she knew she had to say. "Because... Just a while ago, I was so mad with you, but not you really. I was mad because... I didn't want to be discovered, and leave Hogwarts. I have so much here. I can't leave. It'd kill me." Ren was suppressing tears, she felt like a bottomless well of misery when the thought of living without Audrey ran across her mind.

"Like what?" Audrey asked, cocking her head slightly in a questioning manner.

Ren's heart skipped a beat. She stopped breathing. Looking away, she one again began talking to the wall. "Like you." She said shakily. "I couldn't bear a day without you. I... damnit..." Hanging her head in shame, she couldn't muster the strength to say the words that were dangling on the tip of her tongue. "J'ai un faible pour toi..." she said not realizing she was reverting back to French. But looking to Audrey, she once again realized she didn't understand. So, sucking in a deep breath, so decided now was never. It was time to get it over with. "Audrey. I-I love you."


	15. 7L

Surprisingly quickly, Winter Break came, and most of the students went home for the holidays. That left the twins in a large castle with very few other students, and not very many options for how to amuse themselves. The younger students released their boredom by singing Christmas carols in the halls, which were festively decorated with tinsel and ornaments. The castle constantly smelled like the holidays; that sweet mixture of cinnamon and evergreen. If emotions had smells, that would be the scent of happiness and excitement. Everyone was cheerful, it seemed; everyone except Layla.

Christmas was only a few days away, and Layla had just spent the entire morning outside, staring at the lake. The rock she had been sitting on had been covered with a light powdering of snow, and the lake looked like it was almost frozen over. Despite the cold, she had sat there for two hours, thinking. Her mother was dead, and it was all her fault. It wasn't so bad to be in danger herself, but the thought that Jeff might find them again and kill Ren was unbearable.

Then, of course, there was James. He was plaguing her mind, and she felt horrible because of it. Layla kept reminding herself that she wasn't supposed to like the best friend that she had here in the way that she did, but she couldn't help it. The more she learned about him, the more she liked him; even his imperfections seemed perfect in her eyes.

So, she found herself walking towards the Room of Requirement, content in the thought of hiding in her old room with Louis and writing cheesy love songs, which James would never hear. Her thoughts were abruptly stopped when she walked right into someone as she turned a corner.

"Are you okay?" she asked instantly, jumping to her feet and offering a hand down to the girl she had run into.

"How is it that every time we meet, that's the first thing you say to me?" Ella laughed, brushing her copper bangs behind her ears.

"We've got to stop meeting like this," Layla teased, grinning at the younger girl. She had found out, the day they had met, that Ella was a year younger than her, also in Gryffindor.

"Where were you off to, in such a hurry? Not off to have wild sex with James in a broom closet, right?"

Layla blushed, and put her face in her hands to hide her pink cheeks. "Why must you be so observant? It took Ren weeks to notice, and even then, she didn't know who I liked. It didn't take you more than four days."

"It's a gift, I guess," Ella said with a smile. "So, where were you _really _off to, if not to bring your sexual fantasies to life?"

"The Room of Requirement," Layla said, her cheeks darkening a few more shades of red. "Want to come?"

"Sounds like fun. I was going to wander around the castle until my legs collapsed, for lack of a better thing to do," was the cheerful reply.

"You are a strange one."

Layla paced in front of the familiar blank wall, and they walked into her old bedroom. Ella smirked in approval, admiring it for the first time. They both sat on beanbags in the middle of the room, and just talked about random things that came into their heads. After a while, Ella's eyes fell on the calendar hanging above the daybed.

"Christmas Eve is a full moon, this year…" she whispered sadly, more to herself than Layla.

"Yeah… I feel bad for all of the werewolves. What a shitty day to have to transform… though, you know, I always wondered what it would be like, to be a werewolf. The worry and fear that comes once a month, the self-hatred they might endure, the distrust from others in the wizard community… and of course, this month, they have to deal with that on Christmas Eve, which is just all the more sad…" Layla trailed off, realizing that she had started to ramble. To her surprise, Ella didn't laugh at her or call her weird; she was nodding slowly, and her eyes looked like they were filled with tears.

"You understand a lot better than most. Too many ignorant people seem to think we _like _changing once a month, enduring all the pain of the transformation only to forget who we are and possibly kill everyone we care about. Idiots," she muttered, almost angrily. Her face took on an expression of shock and fear when she realized what she had just said, and then she buried her face into her hands. "Oh, no, I screwed up. You're going to hate me, and the whole school will find out, and Dumbledore's going to kick me out, and then my family will be in danger again…"

Layla's heart went out to the girl; they were more alike than she had realized. Both lived with a curse, though Layla knew that hers wasn't as bad; she could control the vampire in her, and Ella had no choice. She got up and went over to her new friend, hugging her tightly and letting her cry on her shoulder.

"It's okay, don't cry. Your secret is safe with me. I know what it's like, the fear," Layla said once Ella had calmed down a little.

"You know a lot more than normal people. You understand… thank you," Ella said, wiping tears off of her cheek.

"How… how young were you, when you were bitten?"

"I never was bitten… well, not in the way you mean. I was born one. My family is descended from one of the most famous French werewolves, from the late 1500s. Queen Isabella. So, naturally, I get to inherit my curse _and _my name from her," she said with a scowl.

Layla suddenly remembered the day they had first met, and the conversation that they'd had. "Is that… is that why your brother is dead? Because he was a werewolf?"

"Yeah..."

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't be. We all knew the risks. He was supposed to be in the pit when the full moon came, but he wasn't, so he followed his nose to the town. He couldn't control himself. Blood lust, you know?"

"Yeah…" Layla grimaced, Jeff's face coming to her mind.

Layla spent the rest of the morning talking to Ella about their families, sharing memories and experiences. It was a comfort, to know that someone else had experienced loss and self-hatred like she had. At the same time, it reminded her that she needed to tell Ren the truth, and soon. She decided that she'd do it the last day of Winter Break; she didn't want to ruin Ren's Christmas with such news, though it was going to be sad enough anyways. Their first Christmas without their mother, their first Christmas in a strange new land. Layla was an atheist, but she still gave gifts and celebrated the holiday, since her mother had always insisted they have as normal a life as she could give them.

She didn't see her twin at lunch, so she ate a little with Ella before excusing herself to go to the library. She hadn't seen James in the Great Hall, either, and was hoping that she would be able to find him there.

He wasn't in the foreign language section like usual, so she pulled out the French romance novel she had read twice since arriving at the school. She was still curious as to what could be in the book that Madame Pince had refused to let her see, but had accepted the fact that she would probably never find out. When she was a few pages from one of her favorite parts, she sensed a presence nearby, and looked up. Just a few inches from her was James. It looked like he had been trying to read the book with her upside down; as it was, she couldn't help but notice how easy it would be to just lean over and kiss him. Her body was on fire, begging her- no, _ordering _her- to kiss him, just once, but she fought the urge.

"Hey," he breathed, and she shivered as she felt his warm breath on her lips.

"Hey," she whispered back, unable to think of any greeting more creative than that.

Layla's eyes glanced at his lips, they looked so inviting, and she wrestled with her mind for self-control. Her mind and body were at war, head versus heart, as she stared at him. Every time he breathed, her body gained another point for its side. Yet before a victor had been declared in her mind, James did something that she had definitely not expected, something that only happened in her dreams; he kissed her.

Soft lips, _his _lips, were pressed lightly against hers, and she was still for a moment as her confused mind tried to determine if this was reality or a dream. Deciding that it didn't matter whether or not it was real, she kissed him back. The two sat like there- Layla's book pressed between her knees and her chest, James' chest pressed against the other side of her knees- until they needed to breathe again. When they pulled apart, a few small inches lay between their faces again. Blue eyes met brown ones, and they looked at each other with exhilaration and uncertainty.

"I'm sorry… I just…" James muttered, as if she hadn't kissed him back. He didn't look away from her gaze though, but seemed to be searching it, as if trying to read her feelings.

Layla placed a finger lightly against his lips, shivering again as she did so. "Don't apologize… I wanted to do the same thing, but… I thought you would hate me, if you did. And that was probably just a spur of the moment thing, and now you're going to hate me because you know I like you. I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't, but I can't help it, you're just such an amazing person, and I just- I'm sorry," Layla stammered, biting her lip gently and breaking their eye contact.

With her finger on his lips, James couldn't say anything against her little speech. He wrapped his hand around hers, pulling it away from his mouth but not releasing it afterwards, and gently pressed his lips against hers again. Layla stopped in the middle of her apology, looking at him with confusion.

"To be honest, Layla… I really like you. I thought you would hate me for kissing you, too, but I couldn't help it… and now, I'm really glad I did, because, well, it was amazing, and now we both know how we feel about each other, so there's no more uncertainty," James said, a tinge of color coming to his cheeks.

The only thing keeping Layla from jumping on him at that moment was the knowledge that they were in a library, and it would be entirely inappropriate in their current setting.


	16. 8R

Two days had passed. It was Christmas Eve, and Ren was not in the same spirits as the rest of the school. It didn't feel like Christmas. Not without her family, away from home, and being so depressed. She didn't anticipate the holidays with as much cheer this year. After what had happened with Audrey, Ren was avoiding her. She couldn't face her. Which was very confusing.

Surprisingly, Audrey didn't seem to mind the fact that she was a vampire, she even promised to keep it a secret; hope to die. But Ren was just so horridly awkward with the whole predicament, she didn't feel right. Her feelings had been released, normally she would have felt lighter than air, but that night she had cried so heavily that things seemed worse than better. She couldn't get the picture of Audrey's scared face out of her mind. It was crushing her, taking her into the hands of despair and ringing her out like a sponge.

She was aware Layla was feeling bad herself, but she lacked enough energy to even make herself feel batter, if she tried talking to Layla, she just chickened out. Neither of them could communicate very well, not anymore. Layla was spending more and more time a lone in the Room of Requirement. She seemed to have given up on a social life altogether. If she was hardly talking to Ren; Ren figured she was talking even less, or not at all to Skye. The only person she was talking to, seemed to be James, which really didn't surprise Ren too much.

In short, the two of them were depressed.

Ren didn't know how long it would take until the school found out about them. Secrets seemed to never be kept around Hogwarts, and this was no exception. And in true nature of this code of secrets, Ren figured she should tell Layla that Audrey knew. She felt rotten, and sick, but she needed to know.

"I need to talk to you." Ren said to Layla that evening at supper. She hadn't had anything to eat, nor did she want to. Really she was only there so she should stare longingly at Audrey from down the table. Resting her head on her folded arms, she didn't bother expecting a reply from Layla, instead she sighed as she watched Audrey laughing in good spirits.

"D'accord." said Layla quietly. "Allons-y."

"I thought you should know that I fucked it up." Ren said, leading Layla into their dormitory.

"What?"

"Everything." Ren sighed, sitting on her bed. Uncertainly, Layla sat down on hers, looking questionably to her sister. "We're here on limited time." Ren continued. Layla said nothing. Ren didn't want to say it; it was as though saying it made it worse. If she could only keep it to herself and her thoughts, things would be okay, even though they never would be. Taking a deep breath, she let the words slip through her lips. "Audrey found out about us."

"What!"

"I-It couldn't be helped." Ren stuttered, fear overcoming her.

"Of course it could have!" Layla snapped, clenching her fists in her lap. Ren could see just how angry she was. Layla's pale face was turning a deep red, and her fists were shaking, knuckles white.

"What was I supposed to do when she takes my flask and drinks from it?" Ren exclaimed angrily. She didn't like her sister being mad with her. But it was worse having her sister mad at Audrey. What was she supposed to do? Taking sides wouldn't work, but she subconsciously found herself siding with Audrey.

"Well I don't know, but how the fuck can you be sure she's trustworthy!" Layla spat back "What if she goes blabbing? We'll be kicked out, and who knows what."

"I know that!" Ren said angrily rolling her eyes "I trust her, she promised not to tell anyone."

"God damnit. That's what Jeff said." Layla muttered.

"What about Jeff?" Ren asked, her voice smoothing out.

"I said that's what Jeff said!"

"What do you mean?"

"Back in France... When Jeff and I were still dating..." Layla said, her voice becoming weak as her eyes filled with tears. "He... he cheated on me, and when I found out... I... I did something completely irrational and stupid."

"Wait... he cheated on you?" Ren asked, her mood softening, becoming completely sympathetic for her sister.

"Yes, with some slut a year older than us..."

"But why? I thought he loved you."

"He said he still did... but I knew he didn't..."

"But-"

"So I bit him."

"What!"

"I bit him." Layla said nodding, wiping a tear away. "I was just so overcome with passion and hate and love and... I didn't know what I was doing. I almost killed him."

"But you didn't..."

"No... I turned him to save his life... But then when he regained his strength he and I fought again, and he threatened to tell everyone what happened."

"Was that the week before classes were out?" Layla nodded again. "I remember that... But you never told me why you were fighting."

"That's why."

Silence consumed the two, and it seemed as though a bottle of hate had been broken inside her. Sharp pains hit her hard in the stomach, leaving her with a nauseous feeling in addition to the anger that was forming in her mind. Clenching her hands into tight fists, Ren remained seated, even though every part of her body was screaming at her to inflict pain. Her mind flashed a fantasy of her tackling Layla and beating the shit out of her. But through it all, she remained seated, fists quaking, and face red with rage. She knew she couldn't hit Layla. They weren't children anymore, and she must handle this like an adult. Any responsible adult would know not to do anything drastic. At the same time she wanted to revert back to the inner child that would always remain in her. All the pain inflicted upon the two, because of the death of their mother, was all because of the one person she had left in the world. The one person she couldn't live without, her only known relative, the only person she had to give and receive love, it was because of her their lives had been ruined. Tears of rage welled up in her eyes, driving Ren to stand up, looming over Layla. Stomping her foot and punching the air as an alternative, she stormed out of the room, Layla remained unharmed.

"What's wrong?" Audrey inquired upon Ren's exasperated face.

"Layla." Ren replied shortly. "She... just- never mind."

"Well, if you insist." Audrey replied, shrugging it off. "Anyway, it's getting late, and Christmas is tomorrow... I'm going to bed."

"'Night..." As soon as the words escaped her lips and Audrey walked off for the dormitories, Ren wished desperately she had actually told Audrey what had happened.

After brooding until shortly after midnight, Ren finally sulked off to bed.

Waking up the following morning, the first thing Ren noticed was a small pile of packages at the foot of her bed. One box was long and slender, a few smaller boxes sitting on top.

Looking around, she saw that Layla had already departed, leaving fragments of packaging and wrapping paper about the room. Her gifts were in a petite heap on her bed. A Dragon Hide guitar strap, a new silver flask, and some cashmere socks; all given to her by Ren. Aide from that, Ren saw a few books and assorted items; probably from Skye, and James.

Back to her own pile, a sinking feeling reached her stomach as she sat down alone to open her gifts. The first was a package of holiday Chocolate Frogs, followed by a gag gift- handcuffs. Ren grinned mournfully at this, Layla always liked to give Ren a gag gift. The third she opened was a small jewelry box, and upon opening it, she saw a fine silver, heart shaped locket. Inside there was a small note.

Ren,

Your sister, Layla, helped me out with this one, so don't give me the credit for this. Hope you like it, and have a Happy Christmas!

Love,

Audrey

The last two words stuck out at Ren like a pin sticking into one's skin. It was painful to see, but she couldn't help stare. Ren immediately put it on, sighing deeply. Seeing she had two other gifts left, she opened the smallest first; she always saved the biggest for last. Inside the small package, there was a copy of Ren's favorite book Les Misérables, seeing this was from Audrey as well, Ren grinned; placing it delicately onto her bed. She knew Layla had probably suggested this too, since her own copy was falling apart, but it was still a nice gesture. Finally, she opened the last box. Ren gasped as she yanked the lid off. Inside sat the latest Cleansweep model on the market. She had always wanted a broom of her own, but she had never gotten one, and here Layla had gone out of her way to buy the best for her. A pain struck Ren's heart as she realized how much money Layla had spent on her, and Ren had only gotten her simple, and easy gifts.

"Why so apathetic?" Audrey asked late that evening. "Be happy."

"It's a little hard to be happy." Ren replied softly. "Christmas or not."

"That's so depressing."

"Sorry."

"Come on." Audrey replied brightly, tying to lighten the mood. "What's wrong?"

"It'd be easier if you were to ask what wasn't wrong."

"You'd feel better if you told me."

"There's a lot of things." Ren was looking away. She didn't want this to happen. She just wanted to be held, like a few days ago. It seemed like eons when she had last been in Audrey's arms, and she needed the warm feeling once more. Looking away, Ren bit her lip, forcing herself not to think about anything.

She felt the tips of Audrey's fingers sliding over her jaw line, turning Ren to face her. Ren hated that. No. She hated when Audrey pulled away. Not the feeling of her fingers against her cheek. "Tell me." she ordered softly. Tears welled up in Ren's eyes as she forced herself to look into Audrey's eyes.

"I never told you..." Ren sighed "but my mother is dead. Christmas isn't the same without her."

"You could have told me that." Audrey said, seeming slightly angry Ren hadn't opened up before.

"She was killed by vampire slayers." Ren continued, half ignoring Audrey. "I hardly remember my father. I only remember him from when I was small. Home in Romania. Then I just remember going to France and he wasn't there."

"Didn't your mother tell you what happened to him?"

"No." Ren said shaking her head, silent tears now streaming down her face. "She always told me I was too little to understand, or that it wasn't the right time. Now I'll never know."

"That's horrible." Audrey said, sympathetic and disgusted. Red refrained from a reply. She didn't know what to say. She never knew what to say anymore. She felt stupid, and small. Like what she wanted to say was inappropriate and didn't matter. She didn't want to sound childish or greedy, even though she knew she was being like that. "I thought you said there were a lot of things." Audrey said softly, breaking the silence. Ren looked to Audrey in a slight panic. Beginning to shake, she opened and closed her mouth, uncertain of what to do. "There's something else on your mind." she said logically.

Ren paused before she spoke, taking in a deep breath of courage.

"You."

"Me?" Audrey looked confused.

"You."

"What about me?"

"I didn't get what I wanted for Christmas." continued Ren.

"Hold on, now you're jumping around."

"No. I'm not." Ren said "I didn't get what I wanted for Christmas."

"Well, what's that?"

"You-" Ren paused, unable to quite comprehend why she was saying these things. "I wanted you. To hold your hand..." Ren wasn't looking at her, but by the tone in her voice, Audrey was flattered and shocked. Better than appalled and shocked.

"You could have told me that before now." Audrey told her.

"I'm going to bed." Ren stated. Trying, and failing, at ignoring what Audrey had just said. She was halfway up the stairs when Ren realized Audrey was following her. "Why are you trailing after me?" Ren asked, stopping and turning to face Audrey.

"It's Christmas." Audrey said, putting her hands on Ren's shoulders. "I don't want you to be sad; I want to make you feel better." Blushing at the sign of compassions, Ren seemed to have calmed down. However, she turned around and continued storming up the stairs.

Fully aware that Audrey was standing silently by the door to the Fifth Year dormitory; Ren kicked off her shoes, and slid into bed fully clothed. "Are you going to stand there all night?" She asked Audrey, who was staring at her in a daze.

"I don't plan to."

Ren felt uncomfortable. There she was, sitting up in her bed, her sister asleep only a few feet away in a different bed. Audrey was walking smoothly over to her, taking a seat on the edge of her bed. They had to be quiet; Ren didn't want Layla waking up to the two of them sitting on Ren's bed. How bad would that look? It was just a good thing Layla was the only other Fifth Year there over break. "So why are you still here?" Ren questioned, putting off her false show of anger, asking purely out of innocence and curiosity now.

"I already said." Audrey replied "I want to make things better for you." And there it was. Audrey was leaning into her, pulling her into a warm embrace. It took her a moment for the current situation to sink in, before Ren willingly leaned into her. Wrapping her arms around Audrey, she pulled her onto the bed closer to her.

Pulling away, Audrey took hold of Ren's hand, lacing their fingers together. "How's that?" she asked softly, her face only an inch away from Ren's.

"Don't leave me." Ren replied desperately, clutching to Audrey once more.

"I won't if you don't want me to."

"I don't." she whispered, pulling the curtains around her bed, and the covers over them. Situating herself between the pillows and Audrey and the covers, the warm safe feeling that seemed to pulse from Audrey encompassed Ren, and a wave of fatigue overtook her into a somber and relaxing sleep.


	17. 8L

Christmas Eve; Layla tried to put on a cheerful front, but found it increasingly harder to do. Two days had passed since she had first kissed James, and she had felt like she was floating since then. That morning, though, she had woken up with the instant realization that it would be her first Christmas without her mother, and it was all her fault. What made the guilt even worse was the knowledge that Ren was experiencing the same thing.

Layla had been watching her sister recently, watching her depression grow as it drew closer to the holidays. She had also noticed the relationship between Audrey and her sister, feeling it her duty to know if Ren got hurt too badly, so that she could plot Audrey's death. At first, the two were as close as ever, but a day or two ago, Layla noticed her sister avoiding Audrey, which she knew would never happen unless something very bad had happened. Though she hated herself for it, she was secretly glad about it.

Slowly, starting at the beginning of term, Ren had withdrawn from her, and became closer to Audrey. Layla loved her sister and wanted her to be happy, but she couldn't control the anger and jealously that rose up in her every time she saw the two together. Audrey made Ren happy, which she could never do anymore. Audrey was the one that Ren kept spending time with, ignoring her twin in the process. But most importantly, in Layla's mind, was the knowledge that it was her fault that they were alone in England, anyways; if it wasn't for her stupidity, her mother would be alive, and Ren would never had met Audrey.

To avoid seeing them together, Layla stayed alone in the Room of Requirement more often. She didn't like feeling so abandoned or anti-social, but she couldn't help it. In her point of view, she had lost her sister, and if she didn't have her sister, then she didn't have anyone. Thinking about it, she grew angry with herself. At the beginning of the year, she had Ren and Skye. Once she became more settled at Hogwarts, Skye hung out with her old friends, and Layla hung out with Ren, or James. Then, her sister became so obsessed with Audrey that the only one she had left was James. And now, she hated herself for being as attached to James as Ren was to Audrey; not only did she feel like a hypocrite, but she couldn't stop thinking that she was wasting his time with her stupidity. Now, she had Ella as well; but they had only known each other for a week, so even though they could talk about things to each other, Layla was afraid of getting too close, certain that in a few months Ella would have abandoned her, too.

So, after another day spent alone in what took the form of her old bedroom, Layla went down to the Great Hall for dinner. Ren ate nothing; despite Layla's half-hearted attempts to force feed her. Instead, she just kept glancing down the table to where Audrey sat, not noticing her twin shooting glares in the same direction.

"I need to talk to you," Ren muttered, and Layla felt relieved. Maybe things would work out between her sister and her, after all.

"D'accord… allons-y," she said quietly.

They walked in silence up to their dormitory, and Layla couldn't shake the feeling of impending doom.

"I thought you should know that I fucked it up," Ren said once they reached the darkness of their room, confirming Layla's thoughts.

"What?" she asked uneasily.

"Everything," a sigh escaped her lips as she sat on her bed. Layla followed suit, sitting on her own and looking at her older sister with a confused expression on her face.

"We're here on a limited time. Audrey found out about us."

For a second, there was a sickening silence as the words hit her, then Layla cried out angrily. "What!"

"I-It couldn't be helped," Ren said, sounding almost afraid.

"Of course it could have!" Layla snapped. She was shaking with rage, not so much at her sister, but at Audrey. She had done enough damage, in Layla's opinion, and now this. Would they have to move again? Would everyone find out, and hate the two vampires? Even worse… would _he _hate her? And, worse still: would Jeff find out somehow, with the gossip that would surely reach from students to family, and family to distant relatives?

"What was I supposed to do when she takes my flask and drinks from it?" Ren's voice was beginning to match her sister's in anger.

Layla shot daggers at her sister. Somehow, she just knew that the sudden anger in Ren's voice was because her sister knew that she was mad at Audrey; and she was siding with Audrey. "Well, I don't know, but how the fuck can you be sure she's trustworthy! What if she goes blabbing? We'll be kicked out, and who knows what."

"I know that! I trust her, she promised not to tell anyone."

"God damnit, that's what Jeff said," Layla muttered to herself. Now she was more afraid than angry; she could picture her mother, afraid but showing a brave face to the vampire hunters that had killed her. She couldn't let the same thing happen to Ren.

"What about Jeff?" Ren asked quietly.

"I said that's what Jeff said!"

"What do you mean?"

Layla was silent for a moment, afraid of what her sister would think at the end of this conversation. She had avoided it for far too long, though, making it even harder for both herself and Ren. "Back in France… when Jeff and I were still dating… he- he cheated on me, and when I found out… I… I did something completely irrational and stupid."

"Wait… he cheated on you?" Ren's face showed her sympathy, and Layla hated it, knowing that in a few minutes, that sympathetic face would be contorted in rage.

"Yes, with some slut a year older than us…"

"But, why? I thought he loved you."

Layla winced at the words. Love; her greatest fear, now, because of him. "He said he still did… but I knew he didn't."

"But-"

"So I bit him," Layla interrupted, trying to get the confession over with as fast as possible.

"What!"

"I bit him." A tear slid down her cheek, and she wiped it away with the back of her hand. "I was just so overcome with passion and hate and love and… I didn't know what I was doing. I almost killed him."

"But you didn't…"

"No… I turned him to save his life… but then, when he regained his strength he and I fought, and he threatened to tell everyone what happened…"

"Was that the week before classes were out?" Layla nodded, and Ren continued. "I remember that… but you never told me why you were fighting."

"That's why."

Layla sat in silence, looking away when she saw the horrible realization hit her sister. Ren turned red with rage, her body shaking as she fought for self-control. She stood up, stamped her foot and punched the air, though Layla knew that Ren wished it were her that she was punching. She knew, as her sister stormed out of the room, that the confusion and anger would remain for quite some time, and hated herself for having to do that to Ren.

She pulled the thick, dark curtains closed around her bed, and bit down as hard as she could on her finger. She deserved the pain, which was almost bittersweet to her. Christmas Eve night, she fell asleep with tear stains on her face.

Layla awoke the next morning, feeling depressed and disoriented. If it wasn't for the small pile of presents at the foot of her bed, she would have completely forgotten that it was Christmas. The curtains were still drawn, so she slowly opened her presents, feeling very alone.

From her sister, she received a dragon hide strap, since her current one was starting to rip. Ren also gave her a new silver flask- Layla smiled bitterly when she saw that- and some cashmere socks. Ella had given her a collection of pictures, a few of herself, but most featured James and Layla together, or James by himself. She blushed at this, and wondered how Ella had managed to get all of these, and how she had never realized that her picture was being taken. There was a note attached, in which Ella explained that since Layla was such a horrible stalker, she took it upon herself to gather pictures for her. She also apologized for not being able to get any pictures of James naked for her- Layla blushed deeply at that comment- and demanded that she not be hit for being impertinent. She stared at the pictures for a long time, before carefully setting them aside and picking up the gift from Skye; a box of Honeydukes chocolate.

Her hands were shaking as she carefully picked up the present that James had given her. She lightly ran her fingers over the wrapping paper, deciding that she would save the paper, feeling like a stalker for thinking of it. Layla carefully pulled the card off of the front, and read it through multiple times.

Layla,

I hope you'll like these books (I know how much you love to read). Also, I've noticed that you have a vampire fetish. Then again, I kind of do, too. Don't know why so many people hate them. Sorry, I'll try to not ramble. I guess I just wanted to say thank you, for putting up with (and actually encouraging) me speaking in a lot of different languages all of the time, and always being there for me to talk to. I guess this is long enough…

Happy Christmas,

James

She carefully opened the wrapping paper, folding it neatly and hiding it underneath the box of chocolate before looking at the books. One was a copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula, which she had always wanted to read. There was also a large volume about vampires; it contained information on the clans, biographies of famous vampires from the past, vampire myths, as well as spells and potions created by vampires to make life easier for others like them. The final book was the French romance novel that she read so often at the library, inside of which a small piece of paper read: Madame Pience was complaining that if you read the library's copy any more times, it would fall apart- so I figured you could use your own cope to wear out.

Layla bit her lip to keep herself from shivering, though she didn't really know _why _she was shivering, since she wasn't extremely cold. It was just so hard to believe that one person could be so amazing and sweet.

Her hand pushed the velvet fabric of the curtains aside so that she could peer over at her sister's bed; the curtains around Ren's bed were still drawn shut, so she guessed that her sister was asleep. Maybe it was the guilt that she had been feeling, but she had really splurged on Ren this year, and hoped that her sister liked her gifts. As her yearly gag gift, she had bought Ren some fuzzy handcuffs; for her actual gift, she had given her twin the latest model of the Cleansweep brooms. Now that there was actually a Quidditch Pitch for her to practice on, Layla thought that Ren might finally start playing the game herself, or she could at least fly around the grounds, if she couldn't play. For Ren, Layla had even brought herself to approach Audrey and help the older girl shop for her sister. She had suggested a silver locket, and had given up two small pictures to put inside of it; one of their mother, and one of the twins when they were younger. Layla had also suggested that Audrey find a copy of Les Misérables, Ren's favorite book. Her thoughts then drifted to Skye, Ella, and James, hoping that they liked what she had given to them. Shaking her head to rid her worried thoughts from her mind, she went to shower and get dressed.

When she came back out of the bathroom, half an hour later, the alarm clock read 7:00 A.M. Ren was still asleep, so she decided to head down to breakfast alone, so that if she wasn't successful in her attempts to force feed herself, nobody would be there to harass her about it. There was only a single long table in the Great Hall, and nobody was in the room. Apparently normal people didn't wake up extremely early, even if it was Christmas; or if they did, they didn't come down for breakfast so early. With a sigh, she wandered outside, her feet making soft prints in the new snow that had fallen earlier that morning. The wind blew snow off of the castle's towers, falling on her as if the snowing hadn't actually let up a few hours ago.

The sky was a light grey, with a trace of purple just above the Forbidden Forest. Her breath caused little clouds to form in the cold air in front of her face, and she hugged her cloak closer to her, shivering. Layla walked slowly towards the Quidditch Pitch; she wasn't sure why, exactly, but she suddenly wanted to go to the place where she had first met James. Once she had reached the exact spot where she had stood, a few months before, she crouched down and began to write cheesy love phrases in French in the snow, wishing that she could get the courage to tell him those things. Her ears picked up the sound of someone walking towards her; the familiar sound of the way he walked, and his feet as they touched the ground. She quickly ran her hand over the snow, erasing the words from the ground.

"We always seem to find each other outside, don't we?" James asked softly, coming to a stop just behind her.

"Yeah… and you always talk first, and it's always a question of some sort," she agreed with a small smile, standing up and turning around to face him.

"What were you writing?" he breathed.

"Nothing?"

"You're standing right beside a 'je t'aime.'"

"Je t'aime de tout mon coeur, actually…"

"Wow, you're not one for those slow relationships, huh?" he teased, his brown eyes sparkling in the dim light.

"Shut up," Layla said playfully, though deep down she knew that she could listen to him forever.

"Women like you confuse me. One moment, you're confessing your undying love; the next, yelling. This isn't a very stable relationship."

James had such a serious face when he said it that Layla couldn't help but laugh. Her laughter was cut off abruptly, to be replaced by a sigh of contentment when he kissed her.

"You know, maybe it's because this is near where we first met, but I just realized that I never taught you how to fly, yet… want to learn?" James asked, his forehead pressed lightly against Layla's, as he stared into her eyes.

"Now?" Her eyes widened slightly; she wasn't a big fan of heights when there was nothing to keep her from falling to the ground.

"Why not?"

"I-I won't fall off, will I?"

"Of course not. Here, I'll ride with you today, so you don't have anything to worry about."

"All right… but if I fall…"

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course."

"Then you won't fall."

"That's cheap, bringing trust into this. It has nothing to do with trust; it's about falling to my death."

"So now you think that I'm trying to kill you off?"

"No! That's not what I meant, and you know it!"

"I know, I know, calm down."

Layla kissed him gently, then sighed again, this time in defeat. "All right, get your broomstick, let's go."

"Was that supposed to be a sexual innuendo?"

"James Akil Karn! Are you trying to call me a slut?" she hit his arm playfully, unable to keep a straight face.

"That depends… how many guys have you slept with in the past week?"

"I lost count after the eighth."

"What a whore."

"Hey, you, this girl doesn't sleep with guys who insult her. I prefer the term prostitute; whores are cheap. _I _charge."

"How much?"

"Two cents; I'm expensive."

James pulled away from her for a moment, one hand searching in his pocket. "Yes, I have a quarter! Twelve and a half rounds, right?"

"Of course. Let's go," she winked at him and ran out onto the field of the Quidditch Pitch.

He chased after her, and caught up with the slender girl in the middle of the Pitch. James caught her hand and pulled her back into him, capturing her lips in another kiss.

"I could definitely get used to this," she murmured when they pulled away for breath.

"Mm, yeah, me too…" James whispered, hugging her close to him. Their bodies seemed to fit perfectly together, Layla noticed. "We came out here to do something… but I forget what it was…"

"Yeah, it's getting cold… you can teach me to fall- I mean, fly- tomorrow."

"Trust issues, again, I see," he teased her, wrapping an arm around her waist as they headed back to the castle.

"Hold on a second…" Layla muttered, her sharp eyes seeing what looked like a person lying on the ground near a rock. James followed her as she jogged over to the figure.

"Ella," she gasped, helping the girl to her feet.

"Wha- what happened?" Ella asked softly, looking lost and confused. She stumbled, once standing; the snow where she had been lying had been dyed red from a few long cuts.

"Last night was Christmas Eve. Come on, we need to get you to the hospital wing," Layla said with a grimace. James and Layla both helped to carry the exhausted girl up to where Madame Pomfrey worked.

"Oh, dear," the nurse said when the three arrived. "Yes, she's a troublesome patient. Just set her on this bed here, and I'll take care of it from there."

The two Fifth Years did as instructed; placing the younger girl carefully on the bed that Madame Pomfrey had pointed at, and quietly left the Hospital Wing.

"So, do you have any idea why Ella was lying outside bleeding?" James asked. The two were now sitting in a deserted hallway near the kitchens, eating toast that the House Elves had happily given them.

"How do you know her?" Layla asked, avoiding the question.

"The library. Other than us, she's really the only person who goes to the Foreign Language section. I met her last year, there. You never answered my question, by the way."

"I… I can't tell you, I'm sorry. Not without Ella's permission," she replied, feeling slightly guilty that she was keeping something from James, but she couldn't tell Ella's secret.

"I have to say, you are one seriously awesome friend. To all of the students who don't know you well; they're missing out on one hell of a person."

Layla felt bad, spending all of Christmas in the Room of Requirement with James or the Hospital Wing with James and Ella; she never saw her sister at all during the day. That night, she was hoping that she might be able to talk to Ren, try to get a little bit of forgiveness from her twin. When she finally managed to get back to Gryffindor Tower, though, Ren was nowhere to be found. She fell asleep on her bed, waiting for her sister to come back.

The next morning, she woke up early again, and instantly looked at her sister's bed; once again, the curtains were pulled shut. After a quick shower, there was still no sign of life from Ren's bad. Worried now, Layla silently crossed over to the bed; she hadn't seen her sister in over 24 hours, and the curtains on her bed were always closed. She carefully pulled back an edge of the curtain, and hissed silently when she did. Lying on the bed, an arm around her older sister's waist, was Audrey. Furious now, Layla stormed downstairs, slamming the door behind her as she left the dormitory.

Part of her knew that she was being irrational, and rather hypocritical as well. Yet the other part of her, the part that was fiercely protective of her sister, was in a rage. Yesterday, she had felt bad about not spending any time with Ren; but at least _she _had been with an injured friend in the hospital wing. Her sister probably had forgotten all about her, spending the entire day with _Audrey _and having the time of her life. Tears were sliding down her pale face, but Layla didn't even notice. All she could think about was how much she hated Audrey, for destroying her relationship with Ren. Her foot connected with the stone wall of the corridor that she was walking in, and she felt a sharp pain as she continued to walk towards the Room of Requirement.


	18. 9R

The next morning, Ren woke with a disappointing find. There were no arms wrapped around her, nor were hers wrapped around anyone. Sitting up in a small panic, Ren looked around, but it appeared Audrey was no where to be seen. Burying her face into her hands, Ren felt a wave of stupidity encompass her. It was just a dream. Just another one of those stupid dreams that feel so real you think it really is. Everything seems real, the senses hit the mark perfectly, but it's still just a dream. "God damn it." Ren exclaimed to herself, flopping back down onto her bed. Curling up into a tight ball, Ren wondered if she would ever get a chance with Audrey, she wondered why things had to be so difficult, and why everything always seemed so difficult all at once.

Sitting back up, she shook her head, as if trying to get all of these thoughts out of her head. Realizing it didn't work, Ren sighed, slowly getting out of bed. She couldn't even get away from the pain in her heart in dreaming anymore. It was haunting.

Out in the Common Room, Ren noted no one that she particularly wanted to talk to. In short, neither Layla nor Audrey was to be seen. So Ren returned to her bed, picking up her copy of Les Misérables and began reading. Maybe reading would allow her to escape reality for some time. No use. For the first time she could ever remember, she couldn't read her book. It was too painful to try to read, it only reminded her of her deceased mother.

Frustrated, Ren threw on some fresh clothes and trudged down to the Library. Hopefully she could find something to occupy herself there. But deep down, she knew she was only emerging from her dormitory in hopes of finding Audrey. After wandering the aisles of books for a good amount of time, Ren finally settled down with a book she found in the Foreign Language section, finding a secluded table toward the back.

Becoming so immersed in her reading, Ren didn't even notice the presence of another until she felt a hand on her shoulder. Jumping slightly, Ren spun around to see Audrey. "Hey." Audrey said, not removing her hand. She looked cold, and her cheeks and nose were red, as if she was outside, but her eyes were warm all the same.

"H-have you been outside?" Ren asked, shivering at the touch of her cold hand.

"Yeah, it's so pretty, I couldn't resist. It snowed last night, so everything is so fresh." she sighed, sitting down next to Ren.

"I guess I didn't notice." Ren replied apathetically, biting her lip.

"Come on." Audrey said brightly "Let's go outside."

"You just came from out there."

"I know, but I only came in to get you." Audrey said, a red tint shading her already blushed cheeks. "Even if it is nice out, it's still boring being out by yourself." Audrey told her upon seeing Ren's questioning look.

"If you want." Ren replied, closing the book and standing up. Though she appeared apathetic on the outside, she was smiling deeply on the inside, glad that Audrey had found her.

Walking around to the furthest edge of the lake, the two finally sat down, exhausted. "You're right." Ren said catching her breath "It is pretty."

"See?" Audrey teased "And you were reluctant to come out..."

"I only came out because you wanted me to." Ren replied truthfully. Audrey said nothing to this, instead looking to Ren fondly. Blushing and looking away sheepishly at this, Ren squirmed slightly feeling uncomfortable. She suddenly remembered her dream, wondering how Audrey felt about her. Neither of them said anything for a moment, instead sitting and listening to the stillness of everything.

"I take it you're feeling better than last night?" Audrey asked delicately.

"I- yeah." Ren answered, not quite knowing what else to say.

"That's good. I was worried about you."

"Oh."

"I wasn't sure if you'd appreciate my company when you woke up." Audrey continued "So I left when I woke up." Sitting there slightly slack jawed, Ren sat staring wide-eyed at Audrey, this time really not knowing what to say. "What?" she asked concerned.

"I- I thought that was a dream." Ren said reluctantly, blushing as she said this.

"No." Audrey replied simply, shaking her head. "Why would you think that?"

"I just... didn't think you would ever do something like that."

"I did."

Ren said nothing, instead awkwardly looking away. She felt her cheeks blushing an even deeper shade of red as an awkward smile swept across her lips. Shivering as a gust of wind blew across the lake, Ren looked curiously to Audrey. It was starting to snow.

"You cold?" Audrey asked. Ren nodded shyly. Cocking her head slightly, Ren tried to read what Audrey was thinking, but she got nothing. She didn't even realize Audrey's hand covering her own until she said something. "Your hands are freezing."

"I guess I didn't notice." she replied, quivering.

"Come on, let's get inside." Audrey motioned to dark clouds on the horizon, blotching out the sun. "It's going to snow harder, maybe storm."

"Right." Ren sighed, feebly standing up, getting more nervous by the second.

About half way back to the castle, Audrey wrapped her arm around Ren's shoulder, pulling her close to her. Ren just about melted, growing warm out of pure embarrassment; she no longer felt cold, but still shivered. Thinking of nothing else to do in response to this, Ren nervously wrapped her arm around Audrey's waist, getting as close as she could.

Walking into the Great Hall together, Ren and Audrey walked right past Layla, who was on her way out. She stared piercingly in an almost jealous manner at Ren. Looking over her shoulder, concerned about what was on her sister's mind, Ren hesitated for a moment before catching back up with Audrey, who was waiting just a few paces from her.

By the time they returned to the Common Room, Ren had nearly forgotten about Layla until she noticed her walking down the stairs, headed for the door. Though she didn't look directly to Ren this time, Ren still saw her hostile glances out of the corner of her eye.

"Why are you mad at me?" Ren inquired of Layla that night as they retired for bed.

Layla stopped what she was doing to throw her a dirty look. Letting out a breath of resent, she shrugged.

"If nothing's wrong why do you keep looking at me like there is?"

"It's not you." Layla replied, sitting under her sheets and blankets.

"You can tell me."

"You'd get mad at me." Layla hesitated.

"You can't be one hundred percent sure of that." Ren said, slightly agitated Layla was being so private.

"Trust me, I know." Layla replied crossly.

"Seriously, what did I do?"

"I told you, it wasn't you!"

"But what's wrong?"

"Nothing! Just- never mind." Layla exclaimed, shutting the curtains around her bed violently.

"Fine! Hole up! Be a bitch like that. See if I care!" Ren said bitterly, throwing herself onto her own bed. Why did such a nice day have to end like this? She didn't understand why Layla wasn't talking to her. She rarely talked at all to her anymore. But it wasn't like it was her fault. She was always holding herself hostage in the Room of Requirement, or off with James or her new friend Ella. She never took time out for Ren anymore; it was like she was avoiding her. She didn't even talk to her in class much anyway. But if she was going to be like that, Ren decided that she could play a long too. Maybe if she stopped trying to get through to Layla, then she'd see how much that she misses Ren's company.

The next day, Ren woke up with the same heavy feeling as the previous day. Though this time not for the same reason. Looking over next to her, she saw Layla was gone already, as always. Probably with James, or on her own in the Room of Requirement. Frankly, Ren was feeling so rejected, from what the two had said to each other the night before, she didn't even care.

In the Common Room, it was quiet. For a moment, Ren thought no one was there, until she spotted Audrey sitting in a corner reading. "You're not off with your other friends?" Ren asked, approaching her.

"No." Audrey replied. "They left a while ago, having a snow ball fight or something like that."

"You were waiting for me?"

"Yeah. You could say that."

"Oh." Ren felt herself blush, trying to fight the urge to break down on Audrey and tell her about Layla. She honestly wanted to, but she couldn't think of a good way to say it. "You haven't seen Layla today have you?"

"Yes as a matter of fact." Audrey said, her voice solemn. "Left about an hour ago. It looked like something was wrong, but I didn't bother talking to her. I don't think she likes talking to me much."

"I see." Ren didn't know what to say at this point; standing there awkwardly, her hands shoved in her pockets. She wondered if maybe Audrey had anything to do with what was upsetting Layla, but she doubted it. If that was the case, she would have told Ren. Or so Ren would have thought.

"Why do you ask?"

"Oh… well, I don't know... she and I had a bit of a spat last night." Ren said gravely "I just wondered..." Without realizing it, Ren's eyes were watering.

"Come here." Audrey said, patting the space beside her on the couch. Ren was obliged to sit down, glad to take the pressure off her feet and sit next to Audrey. "What's bothering you?" she asked, wrapping an arm around Ren.

"I don't know what's up with Layla." Ren sighed, leaning into Audrey. "She won't tell me anything. I tried talking to her last night, and she insisted that she not tell me. Said something like 'you'd get mad'." Tears were now falling down her cheeks, but Ren didn't care. She didn't even bother whipping them away. "I don't know why she won't talk to me. I didn't even do anything. Now she refuses to talk to me at all, about anything, and I just don't know what to do."

"Maybe she just needs some time to cool off." Audrey said calmly, whipping Ren's tears with her own hands.

"I hope so." Ren said, calming down, wrapping her arms around Audrey. "I'm sorry... I just-"

"Sorry for what? Sorry for worrying over your sister? That's not something to be sorry for."

"I- I guess you're right. But, I mean, I'm sorry I've been breaking down on you a lot."

"Ren it's fine." Audrey replied, holding her close, running her hand through her hair. "You've had a lot happen recently. I can understand."

"Thanks all the same though." Ren said, not wanting their embrace to ever break.

"Hey," Audrey said softly, tracing her index knuckle lightly over Ren's bottom lip "I'm here for you. I can't deny it, there's something special about you that I like."

"What do you mean?" Ren asked, intrigued.

"I'm not sure." Audrey said, shifting slightly in an uncomfortable manor. "I mean, when you told me that... when you said you loved me the other day, I felt a little strange about it. Uncomfortable, I guess; but, after thinking about it a few days... I guess what I'm trying to say is I- I really like you."

"You- You do?" Audrey nodded, fondly brushing Ren's bangs out of her face. "I'm so glad." Ren exclaimed, burying her face in Audrey's shoulder as she tightened her embrace "I was so worried after I told you. I didn't know what you thought... I just felt horrible... "

"Don't." Audrey whispered gently. Ren let go of their embrace, nodding in understanding. Reclining on the small couch they were seated on, Audrey held out her arms, motioning for Ren to join her. Ren obliged, lying down next to Audrey. "From now on," she said, pulling Ren into her arms "I don't want you to hesitate to tell me anything."

"Ok." Ren said blushing as she felt Audrey's hand on her back, compressing them closer together. "I love you." she said, wrapping her arms around Audrey's torso, closing her eyes.

"I'm glad." Audrey replied, giving her a squeeze.

Neither of them heard the portrait door swing open or close. Nor did they hear the shuffling of a pair of feet on the soft carpet. But Ren did feel a pair of eyes on her. Opening her eyes, she sat up, looking about the Common Room. "Layla!" Ren exclaimed in a surprised manor, finding the owner of the eyes. Audrey sat up, slightly startled, looking in the direction Ren was turned.

Layla said nothing. She simply stood there stone still for a moment. Her facial expression was that of perplexion; but upon seeing Audrey, she quickly screwed up her face, turning away. "J'en ai ras le bol!" she exclaimed. Eyes looking watery, she stormed up the stairs, slamming the door to their dormitory.

It took a moment for it to sink in, but Ren quickly figured out that it was something about her that was upsetting Layla. But as Layla had said, it wasn't her, it had to be Audrey. "Mon dieu." Ren exclaimed, sinking back down. "Pourquoi…?" Feeling a fresh wave of tears overcome her, she buried her face into her hands. The only thing she knew to do now was cry into Audrey's shoulder.


	19. 9L

Layla paced furiously in front of the familiar wall, fuming. She went to kick the door of the Room of Requirement open, but her injured foot caused her to fall on the ground in front of it, instead. She pulled herself into a ball, her back against the door and her face on her knees, and gave way to her tears. Sobs shook her thin frame, as she sat on the cold ground. Hurried footsteps came around the corner, and Layla was able to make out the blurry form of Ella.

"Layla? What's wrong? Are you okay?" she asked, kneeling in front of her distressed friend.

"I don't know… I just don't know anymore…" Layla replied in a whisper.

"What'd you do to your ankle? I just got out of the Hospital Wing, and now I have to go right back there," Ella said good-naturedly, pulling Layla to her feet.

Twenty minutes later, after a slow trip to the infirmary and drinking a horrible tasting potion, Layla could walk without limping. She had thanked Ella for helping her, but then said that she needed to be alone to think. Her friend had understood, and had only asked that Layla not take her rage out on the innocent walls.

With a sigh, Layla began to wander around the castle. She didn't have a particular destination in mind, she just needed to walk and think, and it was too cold to walk outside. It shouldn't affect her so much; after all, it was just her sister and Audrey sleeping together in the same bed. They hadn't had sex or anything, so they must have just been talking and became tired and fell asleep; a perfectly logical explanation.

Shaking her head angrily, Layla returned to the Room of Requirement. She couldn't talk to her sister about her feelings towards Audrey, since that would just spark another argument and Ren would side with Audrey. That thought caused Layla to mutter a few curse words in French, scaring the two First Year girls that she was walking past. That was one of the things that aggravated her most about all of this. If the twins had an argument about anything related to Audrey, Ren would instantly side with the older girl. Layla, despite years of being Ren's best friend and now her only family, would be pushed to the side.

Layla stayed by herself, writing angry rants about Ren and Audrey, until lunch. She hadn't seen James yet that day, and knowing Ella, he would know about what had happened this morning and would be worried about her. Feeling much calmer after venting her feelings out on paper, she went down to the Great Hall and sat next to Ella. A few minutes later, she sensed that she was being watched and looked up, meeting James' gaze. He looked concerned, so she shot him a reassuring smile and turned back to the conversation that she was having with Ella, determined not to think about her sister.

After a few minutes, though, Layla felt anti-social again and decided to leave. She carefully avoided James' eyes; looking at him made her feel like a hypocrite, since she was so bitter about Ren and Audrey yet she experienced the same thing with James. As she exited the Great Hall, however, all of those angry feelings returned at full force, like a slap in the face. Audrey and Ren were walking past her into the Great Hall; Audrey's arm was around Ren's shoulders, and Ren's arm was around the other girl's waist. They were holding each other very closely, and Ren was smiling contentedly. Layla glared at Audrey before turning her angry gaze towards her sister, the sister who ignored her to spend time with _this _girl, leaving her to feel guilty that she might be doing the same thing. At least _she _had tried to spend time with her sister; Ren made no effort to be around her. Ren caught sight of her twin and slowed down, disentangling herself from Audrey for a moment. The two sisters kept eye contact for a few seconds, before Ren turned and walked over to Audrey. Layla stormed away from the huge room alone, her mind unable to form coherent thoughts anymore. All she could feel was anger, jealousy, and most of all, a horrible sense of loss.

She returned to the Common Room and collapsed in one of the dark red armchairs near the fire. The flames entranced her; she just sat and watched the fire burn, fighting back tears. After about twenty minutes, she realized that her sister would probably be coming up to the Common Room with _Audrey _soon, and decided it'd probably be best to leave. Just as she was about to leave the Portrait Hole, she realized that she had homework that she could work on; it'd let her be much more productive than if she ranted to herself about Audrey and Ren. Turning quickly, she ran up to her dormitory and grabbed her school bag. As she entered the Common Room again, Ren and Audrey came into the room from the Portrait Hole. The sisters walked past each other without a word.

Layla stormed to the library, throwing her bag onto her usual desk with such force that it slide off the other end of the table. She threw out her arm angrily as she went around the table to pick it up, knocking over a chair in the process. As she went to pick it up, a tan arm and hand crossed her vision to raise the fallen piece of furniture and restore it to its proper position.

"Thanks, James," Layla sighed, collapsing into another chair and putting her head in her hands.

"No problem…" he replied, sitting in the chair he had just picked up. " Now, what's wrong? Ella told me about the incident with the wall earlier… why'd you kick it? You only kick things when you're really upset…"

His hand closed over one of hers, and he pulled it away from her face so that he could see her better. He let their hands rest, entwined, on the table, and lightly ran his thumb over hers. The small, caring gesture calmed Layla enough so that she could talk without yelling or cussing.

"It's Ren… we've been fighting. She's in love with a Seventh Year Gryffindor, and has been completely ignoring me to spend time with her. Whenever we _are _together, it's just for classes, and she'll only talk to me about _Audrey _and how wonderful she is. She doesn't care about me anymore, it's just Audrey this and Audrey that. Call it jealously or sisterly protectiveness, but I can't stand it. I don't like Audrey at all; she's stealing my sister from me. I feel like a hypocrite for saying that, because of how I feel about you, but at least I _try _to spend time with Ren. But whenever we're together, she's wishing Audrey was there, and whenever Audrey _is _there, I'm pushed to the side and ignored, like a third wheel. I just… I hate it. I wish she had never met her."

James pulled her closer and hugged her, whispering soothing words in her ear until the tears that had threatened to spill from her eyes had disappeared. The two spent the rest of the afternoon in the library, making up things to put in their Dream Charts for Divination. Professor Trelawney, the Divination teacher, was rather young, and hadn't been working at the school for a long time. Most of the students agreed that she wasn't much of a Seer, but merely made up predications. James and Layla were among those students, and out of laziness decided to use their teacher's method of work and make up their answers to homework. After finishing their work, James began told Layla about different dialects of Arabic until dinner.

That night, Layla got ready for bed as quickly and quietly as she could. She was alone in her dormitory with her sister for the first time in weeks, and didn't want to risk talking; if she did, she knew that she'd mention Audrey and her twin would get mad at her.

"Why are you mad at me?" Ren's voice came from a few feet away, interrupting Layla's angry thoughts. Layla shrugged and said nothing, though she couldn't control the slight glare that she shot at Ren. "If nothing's wrong why do you keep looking at me like there is?"

"It's not you," Layla replied, sliding underneath her covers, but remaining sitting up. She tried to remind herself that it wasn't really Ren's fault; Audrey was the real problem here, so she couldn't be mad at her sister for that.

"You can tell me," Ren pressed.

"You'd get mad at me."

"You can't be one hundred percent sure of that," Ren said, her voice taking on a tone of frustration.

"Trust me, I know," Layla shot back, her voice now holding the same tone as her twin's.

"Seriously, what did I do?"

"I told you, it wasn't you!"

"But what's wrong?" Ren countered, growing impatient.

"Nothing! Just… never mind," Layla cried out as she quickly closed the curtains around her bed.

"Fine, hole up! Be a bitch like that! See if I care!" Ren yelled bitterly.

Layla buried her face in her pillow, the tears falling straight from her eyes to the cloth of the pillowcase. Before drifting off to sleep, she decided that she would tell Ren what was bothering her within the next week.

The next morning, Layla woke up early like usual. She glanced sadly at the scarlet hangings surrounding her sister's bed, before quietly going about her morning rituals. Deciding that it was better to give Ren time to calm down before talking to her again, she headed down to the Common Room. As she walked across the hard floor to the portrait hole, she glanced at the group of girls near the fireplace. There were about seven of them, all dressed up to go outside in the snow. Without realizing, she slowed slightly to listen to them.

"Come on, Audrey, come outside with us! We can have a snowball fight, four against four!" one of the girls pleaded.

"Nah, that's okay… I think I'm going to stay here for a while. You guys go ahead, have fun," a familiar voice said from the center of the group.

"Going to wait for that young girl you always hang out with?" another girl teased.

"Yeah," Audrey muttered, sounding embarrassed.

The other seven girls left, saying their goodbyes as they walked out. Layla waited for them to finish leaving before moving forward to follow them. She shot an icy glare over her shoulder at the redhead sitting beside the fire, before climbing through the Portrait Hole.

As usual, she knocked Ella over in a hallway near Gryffindor tower; the two always seemed to run into each other. Rather than go to breakfast, since neither of them were very hungry, the two Gryffindors wandered around the castle for an hour, talking about anything that came to their minds. In the middle of a conversation about how penguins were going to tame dragons and take over the world, Layla remembered that James had wanted to teach her to fly today; they had never gotten around to it before. After a quick explanation to her friend, she headed back up towards the dormitories, so she could grab a cloak.

Walking into the Common Room, her eyes did their usual sweep of the area, seeing who was there. The only other people in the room were Audrey and Ren, who were lying close together on a couch. Layla felt the tears coming to her eyes; she didn't know why she felt so hurt and betrayed. Though most of it was from her dislike of Audrey, she was also upset that her sister had never mentioned the new level of closeness that she had with the older girl. After months of pining after her, Layla had assumed that her twin would at least confide in her that Audrey was starting to show interest in her.

"Layla!" her sister's voice broke through her thoughts, and Layla saw her sit up and meet her gaze. Audrey sat up next to her, looking startled, and Layla froze, anger welling up inside of her.

"J'en ai ras le bol!" she cried out, running up the stairs and slamming the door to their dormitory shut.

Once upstairs, she grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill and scrawled a quick note to James telling him that she was trapped in her dormitory and couldn't come down. After whistling for Ella's stormy grey owl, Pierre, and sending off the message, she collapsed on her bed. It upset her that she was letting such a stupid thing get to her, but she couldn't go back downstairs and face her sister yet, no matter how much she wanted to spend time with James.

Five minutes later, she heard a faint knocking on her window; assuming it was Pierre with James response, she slowly got up and walked over to the frosty window, opening it to let the owl fly in. To her surprise, the owl didn't fly in; James did, on a broomstick. Her jaw dropped open and her eyes widened in disbelief.

"What, you didn't honestly think that I'd let you get out of your falling lessons that easily, did you?" he teased, his brown eyes shining with amusement.

"No, but I never dreamed I'd have a prince coming in through my window to rescue the princess in distress," she replied, running over to hug him.

Unprepared for the hug, James fell back onto the bed with her on top of him. The two stared into each other's eyes for a few moments, before he smirked lightly and rolled over, pining Layla underneath him. "You know I like to be on top," he said slyly.

She grinned at him, blushing slightly. "How can I forget? You like to show your dominance, don't you, my prince?"

"That I do, princess," he murmured, leaning down to capture her lips with his. All thoughts abandoned Layla's head at that point, leaving her to moan softly and feel James' lips curl into a smile in response. She ran her hands through his short dark hair, feeling his hands curling into her own dark locks.

After a little while, they pulled apart for air, and she stared at him, entranced. She had loved Jeff; of that she was sure. Yet somehow, James made her feel things that Jeff had never caused her to experience. Layla smiled, and hugged him tightly. Flying could wait until tomorrow; for now, she was content to just lie in his comforting embrace.


	20. 10R

A day passed. Ren tried to act like nothing had happened, but she felt she wasn't doing a very good job at this. With the combination of whatever was going on between her and Audrey, and Layla being upset with her, she didn't know what to do.

The past days, Audrey had obviously been showing interest in her, something Ren had been waiting for months. However, the simple fact that this angered Layla caused hesitation on Ren's part. She realized just how infrequently she and her sister had been together, which, she assumed, was one of the reasons why Layla was being so difficult. Though it pained her to think of it, Ren thought it best to stay neutral on the situation between her and Audrey. Just keep to friendliness.

Quietly, she explained this to Audrey in terms she could accept. "It's not like I don't have any interest. You know it's the opposite. It's just that I need to work out whatever is going on with Layla and me first." Ren said, fighting the urge to cry.

"I understand," Audrey said sadly "it's ok. You need your family more than you need me."

Lowering her head, Ren nodded. She knew she needed Layla, but it just didn't feel like it. The one and only person she thought she needed was Audrey, simple as that. Though she wanted to be bold and say something like that, Ren bit her tongue, forcing back the urge. "In fact, maybe I'll go find her now." Ren said, standing up from her seat.

Audrey looked up to her, want clearly shown in her eyes. Standing rooted to the floor, Ren couldn't tear herself from those eyes. It wasn't just the eyes either. The soft glow radiating from the fire cast a complimenting sheen on her soft red hair, her pale skin seeming to glimmer. Looking to her lap, fists lay clenched, fighting a war. A war between what was best and what was wanted. Not waiting to see the end, Ren turned a heel as her eyes were watering, exiting through the portrait door.

Feeling compelled to turn right around and take back everything she had just said, Ren stalled a moment outside the common room before continuing to where Layla was. Letting her feet do the work, and her mind to drift, Ren traveled to the one place she knew she would find Layla- the Room of Requirement. Out of place, Ren knew it would be too much to barge in on her twin, so she settled herself just outside the door.

Waiting patiently, an hour went by. Ren began to wonder if Layla was in there or not, but she stuck to it. Dinner was about to start, surely she would emerge soon. This wasn't the case. Ren found herself drifting into a light sleep.

"What are you doing here?" a voice asked, waking Ren from her slumber. Ren hadn't even realized she had been asleep until she woke. Looking around, Ren saw Layla standing in the doorway, startled.

"I was- I was looking for you." Ren replied, startled herself.

"Not off with Audrey?" Layla spat back, bitterness filling her voice, crossing her brow.

"No." Ren said, wincing at the harshness involved with the mention of Audrey. "I wanted to find you."

Layla said nothing, not seeming convinced at all.

"Ok," Ren started, standing up and taking a few paces to Layla. "I want to work out whatever's bothering you."

"Pfft. You just don't like me angry with your girl friend!" Layla half shouted back, letting the door slam.

Ren's jaw dropped slightly. The world was paused as she stumbled over the right words. "She- she's not my girlfriend." Ren replied softly, trying to repress the hurt she was feeling. Looking down, she continued. "I just want to help you sort through whatever's on your mind. I know you don't like her, but I want to work this out. I don't like fighting with you. I don't want to fight with you."

"Stop hanging around Audrey so much and maybe we wouldn't have to fight." Layla said, slightly cocky, like she had the upper hand.

"That's like me asking you to stop talking to James, or to stop thinking about Jeff- stop thinking about Mom." Ren spit back, becoming angry with Layla's harshness.

Ren saw the flame of anger in Layla's eyes die down as she looked away. The two stood there silently, awkwardness growing with every second. "I- I can't." Layla said finally, breaking the silence.

"Exactly." Ren replied softly. "I can't stop being with her. I don't understand why you can't see how much I love her."

"I can see how much you feel for her." Layla said, her voice sharp, her anger rising once more.

"So why is it that you're so angry?" Ren asked.

"Because she's stealing you from me."

"How is it she's stealing me from you when you never bother to show yourself in the light of day anyway?"

"You've had opportunities. You just don't take them!"

Feeling that this was only half truthful, and getting frustrated at this point, Ren gritted her teeth trying to think of something to say. Thinking of nothing, she gave up the battle for now. "Fine." she said "I try to set things right and this is what I get!"

Angrily storming off, Ren walked herself to the Great Hall. By the time she made it there, she had cooled down slightly, now feeling more depressed than angry. Sitting down, she served herself meek portions and sat a lone to push the food about her plate. Eyes glazed over, and her head propped up on her fist, she might as well have not been there at all, but she didn't seem to have the energy to go elsewhere. The last few words she and Layla had exchanged were bouncing around in her mind, her head throbbing, her heart racing, eyes watery. She didn't even notice Audrey sit down next to her until she felt her hand on her arm.

"You look out of it." Audrey said, her hand still on Ren's arm.

"I was... thinking..." Ren replied slowly, glancing at Audrey out of the corner of her eye.

"About what?"

"Nothing in particular." Ren sighed.

"How did it go with Layla?" Ren looked gravely to Audrey.

"Horrible."

"I'm sorry." Audrey whispered, her eyes full of sympathy.

"Don't be." Ren replied, fighting the urge to break down. "It's not your fault. I don't know whose fault it is, but it's not yours." Audrey said nothing, looking sadly toward Ren. Ren fell silent, taking a small sip from her flask as she debated what to do. She couldn't stand it. If she were in Audrey's presence in her current state anymore she would start crying. "I'm sorry." she finally said "I'm going..." Without waiting for a reply, Ren pulled herself away from Audrey, trudging out of the hall.

An hour later, Ren lay awake on her bed lost deep in though. She didn't know what to think about anything anymore. The last image of Audrey was stuck in her mind; her soft hazel eyes were practically tearing holes in her. She didn't want to hurt Audrey like she knew she was doing, but she also didn't want things worsening between Layla and herself. She was just so confused about what to do she couldn't even think straight thoughts anymore.

Reaching up to her neck, Ren took off her locket. She held it in the palm of her hand, the cool metal feeling good in her sweaty hands. Opening it, she found herself staring at her mother's picture; she wondered what life would be like now with her mother still alive. Ren found herself growing more sad as she thought of her mother. If she were alive she would be in France. If she were in France, she wouldn't know Audrey. Without Audrey, there was nothing. Sighing, Ren rested her hands on her stomach. A shiver came over her and Ren realized how cold it was. Snow was falling outside. Remembering just a few days ago when she and Audrey had been outside, Ren felt something inside her burst.

Tears were welling up in her eyes as she remembered how warm and safe she had felt when Audrey was holding her. She just wanted acceptance. She needed Audrey and Layla. Just two people, and she would be content. Was that honestly so much to ask for? Sighing and letting the tears roll down her cheeks, Ren pulled a blanket over her. It wasn't Audrey, but she would have to make do.

The last day of break finally came. It was the first day of the new year. The students who had been home would soon return, and school would continue the following day. School- they had so many days off and yet Ren still never got bored enough to do any of her work. Like it or not, she had to finish her school work to turn in the next day.

Deciding it would be a more pleasant work environment, Ren took her things to the Library; she was hoping that maybe for a little while she could forget about Audrey, and forget about Layla. That didn't seem to be the case. Ren had all of her supplies, books, and papers sprawled out about the table, but she just couldn't concentrate. Her quill was loaded, and poised in anticipation of scribbling down various things onto her parchment, but nothing was coming. Enough time had passed that Ren could hardly remember anything, and she was feeling down enough that she had no interest in sparking her memory. It was like her brain was numb.

"Hey Layla." Ren looked up, slightly confused, anticipating the sight of her sister with a friend; she only found a girl standing across from her, looking down at her school work. She stood shorter than Ren by a few inches, her face outlined with copper hair which reached down to her waist. Hazel eyes sparkled down at Ren with excitement. "Wait." The girl's smile vanished. "You're not Layla."

"No." Ren said, slightly amused, letting a faint trace of a smile be seen. "I'm Ren, her twin."

"That would make sense." the girl replied, taking a seat and making herself conformable across the table from Ren. "Layla's told me about you. The name's Ella."

"Ah..." Ren replied, slightly dazed, wondering what Layla had said.

"Don't worry." Ella replied, giggling slightly at Ren's face. "She didn't say anything bad about you. Well, not much anyway."

"Oh." Ren said, fighting with herself to be nice with Ella. Instead, she again grinned, and tried to make it as though she were nonchalant.

"Well, I'll leave you to your homework." Ella said, standing up abruptly. "It was nice meeting you."

"Yeah." Ren sighed, giving Ella a weak good-bye wave. Looking back to her blank parchment, Ren decided the only way she would ever get anything done was to promise herself if she worked diligently she could find Audrey even sooner.

That night at dinner, Ren entered the Great Hall to find a deafening roar present. It was now obvious that all the students were home, much to the displeasure of Ren. She had liked the feel of having the castle to herself, without hundreds of other people to share it with. Sighing, Ren told herself there was just one more term and then they had Easter Break. If she just kept herself occupied, that would come sooner than expected. Ren was broken from her train of thought as another body ran into her.

"Damn. I'm sorry." She muttered, steadying herself, looking shyly to the floor. "You ok?"

"I'm fine." a familiar voice rang back, a hand finding its way to Ren shoulder. "It was my fault for being in such a hurry."

"No, I was being slow and standing in the door." Ren said, weakly smiling at Ella. Ella had a lot of charisma. She was the kind of person you couldn't help but smile with.

"Come sit with me and Layla." Ella said brightly. "You seem a little lost."

"I was just..." Ren felt her cheeks redden as she left her sentence to hang in the air. Truth to be told she was looking for Audrey, but for one reason or another, she was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh I see." Ella said in a teasing manor. "Seems like you two really are identical."

"I- what?"

"Both of you have kinky fetishes. But it's okay, your secret is safe with me." Ella giggled, leading Ren to where Layla was seated.

"Hey." Layla said dully upon their arrival. The air around Layla was stale and unpleasant, but Ren remained there all throughout dinner. She liked Ella enough that she figured she had nothing to loose learning more about her, and maybe she would have a chance to try and get an apology out of Layla. To Ren's disappointment, this never happened, nor did Audrey ever make an appearance.

Abruptly leaving once she finished her meal, Ren departed from the noisy hall, and found her way back to the Common Room. As she had expected, here too it was once again crowded. Students were crowding around chess matches and card games, and swapping Christmas stories by the hearth.

Feeling her knees get weak as her eyes came in contact with Audrey, Ren felt down as she saw Audrey in a heard of her Seventh Year friends. Putting her head down, Ren quietly trudged past, retreating to her dormitory.

It looked like things were back to normal with the castle for the most part. To Ren, the only thing that wasn't normal was herself. Her grades were on a steady decline, she was arguing with her sister, who also happened to be her best friend, and Audrey, her little center of happiness, was off with her other friends. It wasn't as though Ren wanted to feel greedy like she was, but there are so many punches you can take at once; having Audrey dislocating herself from Ren and attaching herself to other people again was the final blow.

Settling in for bed, Ren was extremely exhausted from lack of sleep the past week, but for one reason or another she couldn't sleep. Her thoughts were bouncing all around to so many different topics she was too distracted.

Finally, at about midnight, she got fed up and left the Fifth Year dormitory, heading for the Common Room. By that time, no one was up and left in the Common Room but herself, so she was free to herself, but still something didn't feel right. Allowing her fangs to grow out, and breaking the spell for her eyes, Ren felt at ease being in her true form. I saddened her that she couldn't be her normal self more often. She didn't like the feel of being tied down and hidden all the time. The past week she had allowed herself to be free more than usual since hardly anyone was there at school. Now that everyone was back though, she had to be cautious and keep to herself. Feeling better for the moment, she sat down next to a window to stare at the sky. Her vampire instincts wanted her to stalk the night, not live as she was. Living in the day was so tiresome, and wore her down. She wanted to be normal for once in her life.

"It's amazing how wonderful the moon looks at this hour." a voice said sadly. Ren turned around in her seat to see Ella standing awkwardly by the hearth.

"How long have you been standing there?" Ren asked, feeling uncomfortable.

"Not long." Ella replied. Holding up a few pieces of parchment she continued. "I came down to fetch my homework, I went upstairs to finish, but I forgot some of it down here."

"Oh." Ren sighed "I thought I was the only one who stayed up this late, aside from Layla of course."

"No." Ella padded across the room in her slippers and bath robe. "I stay up late a lot. I moon gaze."

"You too?" Ren asked, becoming a lot more interested in Ella than she had been originally.

"Yeah. Did Layla not tell you? Or are you two still arguing?"

"We-" Ren began, startled. "She told you we were fighting did she?" Ella nodded, sitting down in a chair next to Ren. Crossing her brow, Ren grew frustrated with her sibling, for reasons she wasn't even sure of.

"Yeah." Ella replied awkwardly "She told me why too. But don't worry; I'm good at keeping secrets." Ren felt her cheeks growing hot as she blushed.

"I see." Ren said, looking out the window once again. Neither of them said anything for a moment. Ren wondered how she could get out of this situation without seeming rude. It wasn't as if she disliked Ella, she just wanted to be a lone.

"Is it just me," Ella spoke softly "or are your eyes red in this light?"

Ren's eyes widened with fear and surprise as she realized she never changed back once she became aware of Ella's presence. She felt stupid for not smelling Ella's blood and knowing she was there before. Now she'd have to lie her way out. "They are red." Ren mumbled.

"So I was right..." Ella trailed off.

"What?" Ren whispered.

"You two are vampires." Ella replied, equally quiet.

"How did you know!" Ren asked fearfully, her hands shaking in her lap.

"Natural instincts."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Layla hasn't told you that either then..."

"Told me what?" Ren inquired, growing even more frustrated with the young girl.

"I'm a werewolf. Well, I'm going to bed." Ella said, completely unfazed. "See you around."

"'Night." Ren muttered, still in shock at Ella's confession. Ren watched as Ella climbed the stairs before turning into bed herself. Though she still didn't feel tired at all, she felt much more content than she had before.


End file.
